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Dollinger E, Bergman D, Zhou P, Atwood SX, Nie Q. Divergent Resistance Mechanisms to Immunotherapy Explain Responses in Different Skin Cancers. Cancers (Basel) 2020; 12:E2946. [PMID: 33065980 PMCID: PMC7599806 DOI: 10.3390/cancers12102946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Revised: 09/28/2020] [Accepted: 10/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The advent of immune checkpoint therapy for metastatic skin cancer has greatly improved patient survival. However, most skin cancer patients are refractory to checkpoint therapy, and furthermore, the intra-immune cell signaling driving response to checkpoint therapy remains uncharacterized. When comparing the immune transcriptome in the tumor microenvironment of melanoma and basal cell carcinoma (BCC), we found that the presence of memory B cells and macrophages negatively correlate in both cancers when stratifying patients by their response, with memory B cells more present in responders. Moreover, inhibitory immune signaling mostly decreases in melanoma responders and increases in BCC responders. We further explored the relationships between macrophages, B cells and response to checkpoint therapy by developing a stochastic differential equation model which qualitatively agrees with the data analysis. Our model predicts BCC to be more refractory to checkpoint therapy than melanoma and predicts the best qualitative ratio of memory B cells and macrophages for successful treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmanuel Dollinger
- Department of Mathematics, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA; (E.D.); (D.B.); (P.Z.)
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- NSF-Simons Center for Multiscale Cell Fate Research, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Center for Complex Biological Systems, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Daniel Bergman
- Department of Mathematics, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA; (E.D.); (D.B.); (P.Z.)
| | - Peijie Zhou
- Department of Mathematics, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA; (E.D.); (D.B.); (P.Z.)
| | - Scott X. Atwood
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- NSF-Simons Center for Multiscale Cell Fate Research, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Center for Complex Biological Systems, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Qing Nie
- Department of Mathematics, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA; (E.D.); (D.B.); (P.Z.)
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- NSF-Simons Center for Multiscale Cell Fate Research, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Center for Complex Biological Systems, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
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