Increased binding of IFN regulating factor 1 mediates the synergistic induction of CIITA by IFN-gamma and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in human thyroid carcinoma cells

Interferons and Resistance Mechanisms in Tumors and Pathogen-Driven Diseases—Focus on the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) Antigen Processing Pathway

Interferons (IFNs), divided into type I, type II, and type III IFNs represent proteins that are secreted from cells in response to various stimuli and provide important information for understanding the evolution, structure, and function of the immune system, as well as the signaling pathways of other cytokines and their receptors. They exert comparable, but also distinct physiologic and pathophysiologic activities accompanied by pleiotropic effects, such as the modulation of host responses against bacterial and viral infections, tumor surveillance, innate and adaptive immune responses. IFNs were the first cytokines used for the treatment of tumor patients including hairy leukemia, renal cell carcinoma, and melanoma. However, tumor cells often develop a transient or permanent resistance to IFNs, which has been linked to the escape of tumor cells and unresponsiveness to immunotherapies. In addition, loss-of-function mutations in IFN signaling components have been associated with susceptibility to infectious diseases, such as COVID-19 and mycobacterial infections. In this review, we summarize general features of the three IFN families and their function, the expression and activity of the different IFN signal transduction pathways, and their role in tumor immune evasion and pathogen clearance, with links to alterations in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and II antigen processing machinery (APM). In addition, we discuss insights regarding the clinical applications of IFNs alone or in combination with other therapeutic options including immunotherapies as well as strategies reversing the deficient IFN signaling. Therefore, this review provides an overview on the function and clinical relevance of the different IFN family members, with a specific focus on the MHC pathways in cancers and infections and their contribution to immune escape of tumors.

MicroRNA-mediated networks underlie immune response regulation in papillary thyroid carcinoma

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is a common endocrine malignancy with low death rate but increased incidence and recurrence in recent years. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs with diverse regulatory capacities in eukaryotes and have been frequently implied in human cancer. Despite current progress, however, a panoramic overview concerning miRNA regulatory networks in PTC is still lacking. Here, we analyzed the expression datasets of PTC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Data Portal and demonstrate for the first time that immune responses are significantly enriched and under specific regulation in the direct miRNA--target network among distinctive PTC variants to different extents. Additionally, considering the unconventional properties of miRNAs, we explore the protein-coding competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) and the modulatory networks in PTC and unexpectedly disclose concerted regulation of immune responses from these networks. Interestingly, miRNAs from these conventional and unconventional networks share general similarities and differences but tend to be disparate as regulatory activities increase, coordinately tuning the immune responses that in part account for PTC tumor biology. Together, our systematic results uncover the intensive regulation of immune responses underlain by miRNA-mediated networks in PTC, opening up new avenues in the management of thyroid cancer.

Reduced TIMP-2 in hypoxia enhances angiogenesis

Hypoxia, which characterizes ischemia, trauma, inflammation, and solid tumors, recruits monocytes, immobilizes them, and alters their function, leading to an anti-inflammatory and proangiogenic phenotype. Monocyte extravasation from the circulation and their migration in tissues are partially mediated by the balance between matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs). The mechanisms evoked by hypoxia that regulate monocyte migration and activation are not entirely clear. Specifically, the effect of hypoxia on TIMPs in these cells has hardly been investigated. We show that hypoxia reduces TIMP-2 secretion from human primary monocytes and from the monocyte-like cell lines U937 and THP-1 by three- to fourfold (P < 0.01), by inhibiting TIMP-2 transcription through mechanisms that involve the transcription factor SP-1. Hypoxia also lowers TIMP-2 protein secretion from human endothelial cells (by 2-fold, P < 0.05). TIMP-2 levels do not influence the reduced migration of THP-1 cells in hypoxia; however, low TIMP-2 levels enhance endothelial cell migration/proliferation, their ability to form tubelike structures in vitro, and the appearance of mature blood vessels in a Matrigel plug assay in vivo. Thus we conclude that reduced TIMP-2 levels secreted from both hypoxic monocytes and endothelial cells are proangiogenic.

IFN inducibility of major histocompatibility antigens in tumors

Interferons represent a protein family with pleiotropic functions including immunomodulatory, cytostatic, and cytotoxic activities. Based on these effects, interferons are involved in innate as well as adaptive immunity, thereby shaping the tumor host immune responses. These cytokines, alone or in combination, have been successfully implemented for the treatment of some malignancies. However, it has been recently demonstrated that tumor cells could be resistant to interferon treatment, which may be associated with an escape of tumor cells from immune surveillance. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to summarize the frequency of impaired interferon signal transduction, their underlying molecular mechanisms, and their clinical relevance.

Inhibition of IFN-gamma-induced STAT1 tyrosine phosphorylation by human CMV is mediated by SHP2

Human CMV (HCMV) is a ubiquitous beta-herpesvirus which has developed several mechanisms of escape from the immune system. IFN-gamma-induced signaling relies on the integrity of the JAK/STAT pathway which is regulated by phosphorylation steps and leads to nuclear translocation of tyrosine-phosphorylated STAT1 (STAT1-P-Tyr), and its binding to IFN-gamma activation site sequences of IFN-gamma-inducible promoters. Activation of those promoters leads to the expression of genes involved in the immune response and in the antiviral effects of IFN-gamma. Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase 2 (SHP2) is a ubiquitous phosphatase involved in the regulation of IFN-gamma-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation. Several mechanisms account for the inhibition IFN-gamma signaling pathway by HCMV. In this study, we have identified a new mechanism that involved the inhibition of STAT1 tyrosine phosphorylation within 12-24 h postinfection. This defect was dependent on HCMV transcription. Consequences were impaired nuclear translocation of STAT1-P-Tyr, inhibition of IFN-gamma activation site-STAT1 interaction, and inhibition of HLA-DR expression. Expression of indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase which is involved in the antiviral effects of IFN-gamma was also inhibited. Treatment of cells with sodium orthovanadate rescued STAT1 tyrosine phosphorylation, suggesting that a tyrosine phosphatase was involved in this inhibition. Coimmunoprecipitation of STAT1 and SHP2 was induced by HCMV infection, and SHP2 small interfering RNA restored the expression of STAT1-P-Tyr. Our data suggest that SHP2 activation induced by HCMV infection is responsible for the down-regulation of IFN-gamma-induced STAT1 tyrosine phosphorylation.

Expression and upregulation of cathepsin S and other early molecules required for antigen presentation in activated hepatic stellate cells upon IFN-gamma treatment

Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) have been shown to be able to activate T-cells and upregulate expression of surface molecules essential for this process, when treated with IFN-gamma. But little is known about the early molecules expressed by activated hepatic stellate cells under the same treatment. In this study, we investigate the effect of IFN-gamma on the transcription and expression of these early molecules in hepatic stellate cells. We show on the molecular level that activated rat hepatic stellate cells express the class II transactivator, the invariant chain (CD74), the MHC class II molecules, as well as cathepsin S, all of which are known to be responsible for the initial steps of successful antigen presentation. The mRNA and the protein expression level of these molecules is upregulated by IFN-gamma. Importantly, IFN-gamma increases cathepsin S activity, suggesting a possible involvement of this protease in CD74 processing. Our data also show that not only can the HSCs take up antigenic proteins, they can also process them. Our comparative study indicates that the rat HSC-T6 cell line displays sufficient similarity to the activated rat HSCs in order to serve as a model for in vitro studies on the molecular mechanisms of inflammatory response.

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Regulation of PKR and IRF-1 during hepatitis C virus RNA replication

The virus-host interactions that influence hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication are largely unknown but are thought to involve those that disrupt components of the innate intracellular antiviral response. Here we examined cellular antiviral pathways that are triggered during HCV RNA replication. We report that (i) RNA replication of HCV subgenomic replicons stimulated double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) signaling pathways within cultured human hepatoma cells, and (ii) viral RNA replication efficiency corresponded with an ability to block a key cellular antiviral effector pathway that is triggered by dsRNA and includes IFN regulatory factor-1 (IRF-1) and protein kinase R (PKR). The block to dsRNA signaling was mapped to the viral nonstructural 5A (NS5A) protein, which colocalized with PKR and suppressed the dsRNA activation of PKR during HCV RNA replication. NS5A alone was sufficient to block both the activation of IRF-1 and the induction of an IRF-1-dependent cellular promoter by dsRNA. Mutations that clustered in or adjacent to the PKR-binding domain of NS5A relieved the blockade to this IRF-1 regulatory pathway, resulting in induction of IRF-1-dependent antiviral effector genes and the concomitant reduction in HCV RNA replication efficiency. Our results provide further evidence to support a role for PKR in dsRNA signaling processes that activate IRF-1 during virus infection and suggest that NS5A may influence HCV persistence by blocking IRF-1 activation and disrupting a host antiviral pathway that plays a role in suppressing virus replication.