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Schulz B, Leitner E, Schreiber T, Lindner T, Schwarz R, Aboutara N, Ma Y, Escobar HM, Palme R, Hinz B, Vollmar B, Zechner D. Sex Matters-Insights from Testing Drug Efficacy in an Animal Model of Pancreatic Cancer. Cancers (Basel) 2024; 16:1901. [PMID: 38791980 PMCID: PMC11120498 DOI: 10.3390/cancers16101901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Preclinical studies rarely test the efficacy of therapies in both sexes. The field of oncology is no exception in this regard. In a model of syngeneic, orthotopic, metastasized pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma we evaluated the impact of sex on pathological features of this disease as well as on the efficacy and possible adverse side effects of a novel, small molecule-based therapy inhibiting KRAS:SOS1, MEK1/2 and PI3K signaling in male and female C57BL/6J mice. Male mice had less tumor infiltration of CD8-positive cells, developed bigger tumors, had more lung metastasis and a lower probability of survival compared to female mice. These more severe pathological features in male animals were accompanied by higher distress at the end of the experiment. The evaluated inhibitors BI-3406, trametinib and BKM120 showed synergistic effects in vitro. This combinatorial therapy reduced tumor weight more efficiently in male animals, although the drug concentrations were similar in the tumors of both sexes. These results underline the importance of sex-specific preclinical research and at the same time provide a solid basis for future studies with the tested compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Schulz
- Rudolf-Zenker-Institute of Experimental Surgery, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057 Rostock, Germany; (B.S.)
| | - Emily Leitner
- Rudolf-Zenker-Institute of Experimental Surgery, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057 Rostock, Germany; (B.S.)
| | - Tim Schreiber
- Rudolf-Zenker-Institute of Experimental Surgery, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057 Rostock, Germany; (B.S.)
| | - Tobias Lindner
- Core Facility Multimodal Small Animal Imaging, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057 Rostock, Germany;
| | - Rico Schwarz
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057 Rostock, Germany
| | - Nadine Aboutara
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057 Rostock, Germany
| | - Yixuan Ma
- Department of Medicine Clinic III, Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Medicine, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057 Rostock, Germany
| | - Hugo Murua Escobar
- Department of Medicine Clinic III, Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Medicine, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057 Rostock, Germany
| | - Rupert Palme
- Experimental Endocrinology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| | - Burkhard Hinz
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057 Rostock, Germany
| | - Brigitte Vollmar
- Rudolf-Zenker-Institute of Experimental Surgery, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057 Rostock, Germany; (B.S.)
| | - Dietmar Zechner
- Rudolf-Zenker-Institute of Experimental Surgery, Rostock University Medical Center, 18057 Rostock, Germany; (B.S.)
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Gravina A, Tediashvili G, Zheng Y, Iwabuchi KA, Peyrot SM, Roodsari SZ, Gargiulo L, Kaneko S, Osawa M, Schrepfer S, Deuse T. Synthetic immune checkpoint engagers protect HLA-deficient iPSCs and derivatives from innate immune cell cytotoxicity. Cell Stem Cell 2023; 30:1538-1548.e4. [PMID: 37922880 DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2023.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2022] [Revised: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
Immune rejection of allogeneic cell therapeutics remains a major problem for immuno-oncology and regenerative medicine. Allogeneic cell products so far have inferior persistence and efficacy when compared with autologous alternatives. Engineering of hypoimmune cells may greatly improve their therapeutic benefit. We present a new class of agonistic immune checkpoint engagers that protect human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-depleted induced pluripotent stem cell-derived endothelial cells (iECs) from innate immune cells. Engagers with agonistic functionality to their inhibitory receptors TIM3 and SIRPα effectively protect engineered iECs from natural killer (NK) cell and macrophage killing. The SIRPα engager can be combined with truncated CD64 to generate fully immune evasive iECs capable of escaping allogeneic cellular and immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody-mediated rejection. Synthetic immune checkpoint engagers have high target specificity and lack retrograde signaling in the engineered cells. This modular design allows for the exploitation of more inhibitory immune pathways for immune evasion and could contribute to the advancement of allogeneic cell therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessia Gravina
- Transplant and Stem Cell Immunobiology (TSI)-Lab, Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Grigol Tediashvili
- Transplant and Stem Cell Immunobiology (TSI)-Lab, Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Yueting Zheng
- Shinobi Therapeutics, 2 Tower Place, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Kumiko A Iwabuchi
- Shinobi Therapeutics, 2 Tower Place, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Sara M Peyrot
- Shinobi Therapeutics, 2 Tower Place, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Susan Z Roodsari
- Shinobi Therapeutics, 2 Tower Place, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Lauren Gargiulo
- Shinobi Therapeutics, 2 Tower Place, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Shin Kaneko
- Laboratory of Regenerative Immunotherapy, Department of Cell Growth and Differentiation, Center for iPS cell Research, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Mitsujiro Osawa
- Shinobi Therapeutics, Med-Pharm Collaboration Building 46-29, Yoshida-Shimo-Adachi-Cho, Sakyo-Ku, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Sonja Schrepfer
- Transplant and Stem Cell Immunobiology (TSI)-Lab, Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Tobias Deuse
- Transplant and Stem Cell Immunobiology (TSI)-Lab, Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
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Pitonak M, Aceves M, Kumar PA, Dampf G, Green P, Tucker A, Dietz V, Miranda D, Letchuman S, Jonika MM, Bautista D, Blackmon H, Dulin JN. Effects of biological sex mismatch on neural progenitor cell transplantation for spinal cord injury in mice. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5380. [PMID: 36104357 PMCID: PMC9474813 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33134-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite advancement of neural progenitor cell transplantation to spinal cord injury clinical trials, there remains a lack of understanding of how biological sex of transplanted cells influences outcomes after transplantation. To address this, we transplanted GFP-expressing sex-matched, sex-mismatched, or mixed donor cells into sites of spinal cord injury in adult male and female mice. Biological sex of the donor cells does not influence graft neuron density, glial differentiation, formation of the reactive glial cell border, or graft axon outgrowth. However, male grafts in female hosts feature extensive hypervascularization accompanied by increased vascular diameter and perivascular cell density. We show greater T-cell infiltration within male-to-female grafts than other graft types. Together, these findings indicate a biological sex-specific immune response of female mice to male donor cells. Our work suggests that biological sex should be considered in the design of future clinical trials for cell transplantation in human injury. In this study, Pitonak et al. report that transplantation of neural progenitor cells derived from male donors trigger an immune rejection response following transplantation into sites of spinal cord injury in female mice.
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Jazbec K, Jež M, Švajger U, Smrekar B, Miceska S, Rajčevič U, Justin M, Završnik J, Malovrh T, Švara T, Gombač M, Ramšak Ž, Rožman P. The Influence of Heterochronic Non-Myeloablative Bone Marrow Transplantation on the Immune System, Frailty, General Health, and Longevity of Aged Murine Recipients. Biomolecules 2022; 12:biom12040595. [PMID: 35454183 PMCID: PMC9028083 DOI: 10.3390/biom12040595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Revised: 04/06/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The stem cell theory of aging postulates that stem cells become inefficient at maintaining the original functions of the tissues. We, therefore, hypothesized that transplanting young bone marrow (BM) to old recipients would lead to rejuvenating effects on immunity, followed by improved general health, decreased frailty, and possibly life span extension. We developed a murine model of non-myeloablative heterochronic BM transplantation in which old female BALB/c mice at 14, 16, and 18(19) months of age received altogether 125.1 ± 15.6 million nucleated BM cells from young male donors aged 7–13 weeks. At 21 months, donor chimerism was determined, and the immune system’s innate and adaptive arms were analyzed. Mice were then observed for general health and frailty until spontaneous death, when their lifespan, post-mortem examinations, and histopathological changes were recorded. The results showed that the old mice developed on average 18.7 ± 9.6% donor chimerism in the BM and showed certain improvements in their innate and adaptive arms of the immune system, such as favorable counts of neutrophils in the spleen and BM, central memory Th cells, effector/effector memory Th and Tc cells in the spleen, and B1a and B1b cells in the peritoneal cavity. Borderline enhanced lymphocyte proliferation capacity was also seen. The frailty parameters, pathomorphological results, and life spans did not differ significantly in the transplanted vs. control group of mice. In conclusion, although several favorable effects are obtained in our heterochronic non-myeloablative transplantation model, additional optimization is needed for better rejuvenation effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katerina Jazbec
- Diagnostic Services, Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; (M.J.); (U.Š.); (B.S.); (S.M.); (U.R.); (M.J.); (P.R.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Mojca Jež
- Diagnostic Services, Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; (M.J.); (U.Š.); (B.S.); (S.M.); (U.R.); (M.J.); (P.R.)
| | - Urban Švajger
- Diagnostic Services, Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; (M.J.); (U.Š.); (B.S.); (S.M.); (U.R.); (M.J.); (P.R.)
- Chair of Clinical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 7, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Boštjan Smrekar
- Diagnostic Services, Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; (M.J.); (U.Š.); (B.S.); (S.M.); (U.R.); (M.J.); (P.R.)
| | - Simona Miceska
- Diagnostic Services, Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; (M.J.); (U.Š.); (B.S.); (S.M.); (U.R.); (M.J.); (P.R.)
| | - Uroš Rajčevič
- Diagnostic Services, Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; (M.J.); (U.Š.); (B.S.); (S.M.); (U.R.); (M.J.); (P.R.)
| | - Mojca Justin
- Diagnostic Services, Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; (M.J.); (U.Š.); (B.S.); (S.M.); (U.R.); (M.J.); (P.R.)
| | - Janja Završnik
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular and Structural Biology, Jožef Stefan Institute, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia;
| | - Tadej Malovrh
- Institute of Microbiology and Parasitology, Veterinary Faculty, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia;
| | - Tanja Švara
- Institute of Pathology, Wild Animals, Fish and Bees, Veterinary Faculty, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; (T.Š.); (M.G.)
| | - Mitja Gombač
- Institute of Pathology, Wild Animals, Fish and Bees, Veterinary Faculty, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; (T.Š.); (M.G.)
| | - Živa Ramšak
- National Institute of Biology, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia;
| | - Primož Rožman
- Diagnostic Services, Blood Transfusion Centre of Slovenia, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; (M.J.); (U.Š.); (B.S.); (S.M.); (U.R.); (M.J.); (P.R.)
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