Tumour immune microenvironment biomarkers predicting cytotoxic chemotherapy efficacy in colorectal cancer

Heterogeneous immune landscapes and macrophage dynamics in primary and lung metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck

Introduction

Recurrent or metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the head and neck is rare and highly aggressive. Due to the ineffectiveness of immune checkpoint therapies, this study aims to investigate the tumor immune microenvironment of primary tumor tissues and lung metastatic tissues and to comprehend the challenges of immunotherapy.

Methods

We analyzed RNA sequencing data and constructed immune landscapes from 25 primary tumors and 34 lung metastases. The data were then validated by immunohistochemistry and single-cell sequencing analysis.

Results

Compared to adjacent normal tissues, both primary and lung metastatic ACC showed low immune infiltration. Lung metastases had higher immune infiltration levels and antigen presentation scores but also higher T cell exclusion and dysfunction scores. Single-cell sequencing data and immunohistochemistry revealed abundant immunosuppressive tumor-associated macrophages in lung metastases. Patients with high M2 macrophage infiltration had shorter lung metastasis-free survival.

Discussion

Primary and lung metastatic ACC exhibit heterogeneous tumor immune microenvironments. Higher immune cell infiltration in lung metastases is countered by the presence of suppressive tumor-associated macrophages, which may limit effective anti-tumor responses.

Effect of colorectal cancer stem cells on the development and metastasis of colorectal cancer

The relevant mechanism of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in the treatment of colorectal cancer patients with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is discussed, and the application prospects of TAMs in reversing the treatment tolerance of ICIs are discussed to provide a reference for related studies. As a class of drugs widely used in clinical tumor immunotherapy, ICIs can act on regulatory molecules on cells that play an inhibitory role - immune checkpoints - and kill tumors in the form of an immune response by activating a variety of immune cells in the immune system. The sensitivity of patients with different types of colorectal cancer to ICI treatment varies greatly. The phenotype and function of TAMs in the colorectal cancer microenvironment are closely related to the efficacy of ICIs. ICIs can regulate the phenotypic function of TAMs, and TAMs can also affect the tolerance of colorectal cancer to ICI therapy. TAMs play an important role in ICI resistance, and making full use of this target as a therapeutic strategy is expected to improve the immunotherapy efficacy and prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer.

PTOV1 facilitates colorectal cancer cell proliferation through activating AKT1 signaling pathway

Background

Colorectal cancer is a predominant contributor to global cancer-related morbidity and mortality. The oncogene PTOV1 has been linked to various human malignancies, yet its specific role in CRC pathogenesis requires further elucidation.

Methods

Our study used a comprehensive array of authoritative bioinformatics tools, such as TIMER, UCSC Xena, GEO, Human Protein Atlas, UALCAN, CIBERSORTx and others which used to investigate the complex effects of PTOV1 on gene expression profiles, diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, tumor immunology, signaling pathways, epigenetic alterations, and genetic mutations. Gene expression validation was conducted using Western blot and qRT-PCR. The in vitro proliferative and migratory potentials of CRC cells were evaluated using CCK-8 assays, colony formation, and transwell migration assays, respectively. MSP was applied to assess the methylation status of the PTOV1 promoter region.

Results

Our results reveal a significant association between increased PTOV1 expression, driven by promoter hypomethylation, and poor patient prognosis in CRC. Elevated PTOV1 levels were positively correlated with the enrichment of diverse immune cell subsets and immune-related molecules within the tumor microenvironment. In vitro assays demonstrated that PTOV1 knockdown markedly reduced CRC cell proliferation, colony formation, and migration, while ectopic PTOV1 expression had the opposite effect. Importantly, PTOV1 was shown to regulate the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, significantly influencing the phosphorylation of AKT1 and the expression of cell cycle regulators P21 and P27. The pharmacological inhibition of AKT1 phosphorylation using MK2206 effectively counteracted the proliferative effects induced by PTOV1 overexpression.

Conclusion

The ability of PTOV1 to enhance CRC cell proliferation via modulation of the AKT1 signaling pathway establishes it as a potential therapeutic target and a promising biomarker for prognostic stratification in CRC.

Microenvironment, systemic inflammatory response and tumor markers considering consensus molecular subtypes of colorectal cancer

Introduction: Colorectal carcinomas (CRC) are one of the most frequent malignancies worldwide. Based on gene expression profile analysis, CRCs can be classified into four distinct subtypes also known as the consensus molecular subtypes (CMS), which predict biological behaviour. Besides CMS, several other aspects of tumor microenvironment (TME) and systemic inflammatory response (SIR) influence the outcome of CRC patients. TME and inflammation have important role in the immune (CMS1) and mesenchymal (CMS4) subtypes, however, the relationship between these and systemic inflammation has not been assessed yet. Our objective was to evaluate the connection between CMS, TME and SIR, and to analyze the correlation between these markers and routinely used tumor markers, such as CEA (Carcinoembryonic Antigen) and CA19-9 (Carbohydrate Antigen 19-9). Methods: FFPE (Formalin Fixed Paraffin Embedded) samples of 185 CRC patients were collected. TME was described using tumor-stroma ratio (TSR), Klintrup-Makinen (KM) grade, and Glasgow Microenvironment Score (GMS). CMS classification was performed on tissue microarray using MLH1, PMS2, MSH2 and MSH6, and pan-cytokeratin, CDX2, FRMD6, HTR2B and ZEB1 immunohistochemical stains. Pre-operative tumor marker levels and inflammatory markers [C-reactive protein - CRP, albumin, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), absolute platelet count (APC)] and patient history were retrieved using MedSolution database. Results: Amongst TME-markers, TSR correlated most consistently with adverse clinicopathological features (p < 0.001) and overall survival (p < 0.001). Elevated CRP and modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) were associated with worse outcome and aggressive phenotype, similarly to tumor markers CEA and CA19-9. Stroma-Tumor Marker score (STM score), a new combined score of CA19-9 and TSR delivered the second best prognostication after mGPS. Furthermore, CMS4 showed association with TSR and several laboratory markers (albumin and platelet derived factors), but not with other SIR descriptors. CMS did not show any association with CEA and CA19-9 tumor markers. Conclusion: More routinely available TME, SIR and tumor markers alone and in combination deliver reliable prognostic data for choosing the patients with higher risk for propagation. CMS4 is linked with high TSR and poor prognosis, but in overall, CMS-classification showed only limited effect on SIR- and tumor-markers.

Association of immune-related expression profile with sensitivity to chemotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) followed by surgery is one of the standard therapeutic approaches in Japan for patients with locally advanced esophageal carcinoma. Recently, the JCOG1109 study revealed that NAC with docetaxel, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) (DCF-NAC) is superior to NAC with cisplatin and 5-FU, and has now become the standard preoperative chemotherapy. Using a microarray system, we have previously investigated the expression profiles of endoscopic biopsy samples from patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) before DCF-NAC (preNAC) and identified 17 molecules as biomarkers predictive of a pathologically complete response to DCF-NAC. Here, we re-grouped our previous dataset based on the histopathological response grade with the addition of several microarray profiles and conducted a re-analysis using bioinformatic web tools including DAVID, GSEA, UALCAN, and CIBERSORTx. We identified 204 genes that were differentially expressed between the highly resistant and sensitive groups. Some of these differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were related to the immune response and showed higher expression in the sensitive group. UALCAN showed that high expression of 28 of the top 50 DEGs was associated with a favorable prognosis (p < 0.25), and that this reached a significant (p < 0.05) level for 18 of them, suggesting that patients with high expression of these genes might have benefited from chemotherapy and thus had a better outcome. In preNAC biopsy tissues from a DCF-sensitive case, we demonstrated the presence of cells expressing mRNA for CXCL9, one of the prognosis-related DEGs. Our results highlight the association of immune-related expression profile in preNAC ESCC with the DCF-NAC efficacy.

NIFK as a potential prognostic biomarker in colorectal cancer correlating with immune infiltrates

BACKGROUND

Immune-related initiation, progress, metastasis and sensitivity to treatment associated with poor prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). The role of Nucleolar protein interacting with the FHA domain of MKI67 (NIFK) in CRC remained to be investigated. We explore whether NIFK correlates with tumor immune infiltration and plays an important role in CRC patient prognosis.

METHODS

The data of samples involved in our study was obtained from TCGA and GEO and samples for protein expression detection and clinical information analysis were obtained from our hospital. NIFK expression, association with patient prognosis, correlation with infiltration of immune cells and its correlated genes involved in signaling pathways were analyzed using bioinformatics method along with experimental validation and clinical correlation analysis.

RESULTS

Results indicated that the expression of NIFK in tumor tissues was significantly increased compared with normal samples. colon and rectal cancer patients with high NIFK expression have poor survival compared with those with low NIFK expression. Results of cell experiments indicated that NIFK is positively correlated with cell proliferation and migration in CRC. NIFK negatively correlated with T cell CD8+, Tregs, Neutrophil and macrophage significantly. DARS and NKRF were positively correlated with NIFK and DARS correlated with CD8 + T cell, CD4 + T cell, macrophage and Neutrophil, NKRF correlated with CD8 + T cell, CD4 + T cell and macrophage in colon and rectal cancer. NIFK along with its correlated genes as DARS and NKRF were involved in Wnt, PI3K-Akt, NF-κB signaling and Intestinal immune network for lgA production.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggested that NIFK might be a biomarker associated with poor prognosis of CRC patients, and it would be a potential target for CRC therapy.

scFv biofunctionalized nanoparticles to effective and safe targeting of CEA-expressing colorectal cancer cells

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide, with the 5 year survival rate in metastatic cases limited to 12%. The design of targeted and effective therapeutics remains a major unmet clinical need in CRC treatment. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a glycoprotein overexpressed in most colorectal tumors, may constitute a promising molecule for generating novel CEA-targeted therapeutic strategies for CRC treatment. Here, we developed a smart nanoplatform based on chemical conjugation of an anti-CEA single-chain variable fragment (scFv), MFE-23, with PLGA-PEG polymers to deliver the standard 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) chemotherapy to CRC cells. We confirmed the specificity of the developed CEA-targeted NPs on the internalization by CEA-expressing CRC cells, with an enhance of threefold in the cell uptake. Additionally, CEA-targeted NPs loaded with 5-FU induced higher cytotoxicity in CEA-expressing cells, after 24 h and 48 h of treatment, reinforcing the specificity of the targeted NPs. Lastly, the safety of CEA-targeted NPs loaded with 5-FU was evaluated in donor-isolated macrophages, with no relevant impact on their metabolic activity nor polarization. Altogether, this proof of concept supports the CEA-mediated internalization of targeted NPs as a promising chemotherapeutic strategy for further investigation in different CEA-associated cancers and respective metastatic sites.Authors: Please confirm if the author names are presented accurately and in the correct sequence (given name, middle name/initial, family name). Author 1 Given name: [Maria José] Last name [Silveira]. Author 7 Given name: [Maria José] Last name [Oliveira]. Also, kindly confirm the details in the metadata are correctokAffiliations: Please check and confirm that the authors and their respective affiliations have been correctly identified and amend if necessary.ok.

Construction of a novel signature based on immune-related lncRNA to identify high and low risk pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients

BACKGROUND

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is one of the most lethal tumors in the world with a poor prognosis. Thus, an accurate prediction model, which identify patients within high risk of pancreatic adenocarcinoma is needed to adjust the treatment and elevate the prognosis of these patients.

METHODS

We obtained RNAseq data of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) from UCSC Xena database, identified immune-related lncRNAs (irlncRNAs) by correlation analysis, and identified differential expressed irlncRNAs (DEirlncRNAs) between pancreatic adenocarcinoma tissues from TCGA and normal pancreatic tissues from TCGA and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx). Further univariate and lasso regression analysis were performed to construct prognostic signature model. Then, we calculated the areas under curve and identified the best cut-off value to identify high- and low-risk patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The clinical characteristics, immune cell infiltration, immunosuppressive microenvironment, and chemoresistance were compared between high- and low-risk patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

RESULTS

We identified 20 DEirlncRNA pairs and grouped the patients by the best cut-off value. We proved that our prognostic signature model possesses a remarkable efficiency to predict prognosis of PAAD patients. The AUC for ROC curve was 0.905 for 1-year prediction, 0.942 for 2-year prediction, and 0.966 for 3-year prediction. Patients in high-risk group have poor survival rate and worse clinical characteristics. We also proved that patients in high-risk groups were in immunosuppressive status and may be resistant to immunotherapy. Anti-cancer drug evaluation was performed based on in-silico predated tool, such as paclitaxel, sorafenib, and erlotinib, may be suitable for PAAD patients in high-risk group.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, our study constructed a novel prognostic risk model based on pairing irlncRNAs, exhibited a promising prediction value in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Our prognostic risk model may help distinguish PAAD patients suitable for medical treatments.

Lumican is a potential predictor on the efficacy of concurrent chemoradiotherapy in cervical squamous cell carcinoma

Purpose

To identify new novel biomarkers for predicting the efficacy of concurrent chemoradiotherapy(CCRT) in cervical squamous cell carcinoma(CESC).

Methods

Gene expression datasets GSE56363, GSE5787, and GSE168009 were analyzed to identify candidate genes to predict the efficacy of CCRT in CESC. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from GSE168652 and CESC patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA) were systematically analyzed to explore possible molecular mechanisms. Kaplan-Meier evaluated the correlation between LUM (Lumican) and prognostic significance. The expression of LUM protein in biopsy tissues before CCRT was detected by immunohistochemistry in 15 CESC patients.

Results

LUM mRNA levels were significantly upregulated in nonresponders of CESC.patients receiving CCRT and positively correlated with poor therapeutic effect. Furthermore, high expression of LUM influenced the immune microenvironment in CESC patient-derived organoids treated with CCRT. LUM overexpression in CESC cells induced resistance to CCRT, potentially via immune landscape modulation. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) revealed that possible mechanisms underlying resistance to CCRT might involve the PARs and IL1 signaling pathway affecting the immune landscape.

Conclusions

High LUM expression is correlated with poor efficacy in CESC patients receiving CCRT, possibly through the PARs and IL1 signaling pathway affecting the immune landscape.

3D bioprinting of gastrointestinal cancer models: A comprehensive review on processing, properties, and therapeutic implications

Gastrointestinal tract (GIT) malignancies are an important public health problem considering the increased incidence in recent years and the high morbidity and mortality associated with it. GIT malignancies constitute 26% of the global cancer incidence burden and 35% of all cancer-related deaths. Gastrointestinal cancers are complex and heterogenous diseases caused by the interplay of genetic and environmental factors. The tumor microenvironment (TME) of gastrointestinal tract carcinomas is dynamic and complex; it cannot be recapitulated in the basic two-dimensional cell culture systems. In contrast, three-dimensional (3D) in vitro models can mimic the TME more closely, enabling an improved understanding of the microenvironmental cues involved in the various stages of cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis. However, the heterogeneity of the TME is incompletely reproduced in these 3D culture models, as they fail to regulate the orientation and interaction of various cell types in a complex architecture. To emulate the TME, 3D bioprinting has emerged as a useful technique to engineer cancer tissue models. Bioprinted cancer tissue models can potentially recapitulate cancer pathology and increase drug resistance in an organ-mimicking 3D environment. In this review, we describe the 3D bioprinting methods, bioinks, characterization of 3D bioprinted constructs, and their application in developing gastrointestinal tumor models that integrate their microenvironment with different cell types and substrates, as well as bioprinting modalities and their application in therapy and drug screening. We review prominent studies on the 3D bioprinted esophageal, hepatobiliary, and colorectal cancer models. In addition, this review provides a comprehensive understanding of the cancer microenvironment in printed tumor models, highlights current challenges with respect to their clinical translation, and summarizes future perspectives.

Association of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes With Survival in Stages II and III Colorectal Cancer

The tumor microenvironment is crucial in tumourigenesis, response to therapy, and elimination of tumor cells. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) promote the host immune response and are associated with a better prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC). This multicentric retrospective study evaluated the relationship between the presence and intensity of TILs and survival outcomes. A total of 651 patients from four Portuguese oncological centers who underwent surgical resection for stages II or III colorectal adenocarcinoma between 2016 and 2019 were included in this study. The mean age of the study population was 70 years; 58.2% were males. The median overall survival was 58.03 ± 1.29 months (95% confidence interval (CI) 55.50 - 60.56), and the median disease-free survival (DFS) was 53.02 ± 1.39 months (95% CI 50.29 - 55.74). Patients with high infiltrate (including those with moderate, abundant, or Crohn-like infiltrate) had significantly longer DFS i.e., 58.48 ± 1.84 months (95% CI 54.87 - 62.09 months) vs 49.22 ± 1.75 months (95% CI 45.79 - 52.64 months) in the group with absent or minimal infiltrate; p = 0.003. Assessing the side of the tumor, high infiltrate was associated with higher DFS (59.86 ± 2.36 months (95% CI 55.23 - 64.50 months) vs 49.60 ± 2.40 months (95% CI 44.90 - 54.29 months), p = 0.011). This work reinforces the importance of research into possible prognostic and predictive factors in patients with CRC.

ICOSeg: Real-Time ICOS Protein Expression Segmentation from Immunohistochemistry Slides Using a Lightweight Conv-Transformer Network

Simple Summary

Inducible T-cell COStimulator (ICOS) is a biomarker of interest in checkpoint inhibitor therapy, and as a means of assessing T-cell regulation as part of a complex process of adaptive immunity. The aim of our study is to segment the ICOS positive cells using a lightweight deep-learning segmentation network. We aim to assess the potential of a convolutional neural network and transformer together that permits the capture of relevant features from immunohistochemistry images. The proposed study achieved remarkable results compared to the existing biomedical segmentation methods on our in-house dataset and surpassed our previous analysis by only utilizing the Efficient-UNet network.

Abstract

In this article, we propose ICOSeg, a lightweight deep learning model that accurately segments the immune-checkpoint biomarker, Inducible T-cell COStimulator (ICOS) protein in colon cancer from immunohistochemistry (IHC) slide patches. The proposed model relies on the MobileViT network that includes two main components: convolutional neural network (CNN) layers for extracting spatial features; and a transformer block for capturing a global feature representation from IHC patch images. The ICOSeg uses an encoder and decoder sub-network. The encoder extracts the positive cell’s salient features (i.e., shape, texture, intensity, and margin), and the decoder reconstructs important features into segmentation maps. To improve the model generalization capabilities, we adopted a channel attention mechanism that added to the bottleneck of the encoder layer. This approach highlighted the most relevant cell structures by discriminating between the targeted cell and background tissues. We performed extensive experiments on our in-house dataset. The experimental results confirm that the proposed model achieves more significant results against state-of-the-art methods, together with an 8× reduction in parameters.

Self-assembled iRGD-R7-LAHP-M nanoparticle induced sufficient singlet oxygen and enhanced tumor penetration immunological therapy

The generation of singlet oxygen (¹O₂) using photodynamic therapy (PDT) is limited by the hypoxia of the tumor microenvironment and the depth of external light penetration because it depends on the precise cooperation between the photosensitizers, oxygen, and light. Herein, we report a self-sufficient ¹O₂ nanoreactor with enhanced penetration into deep tumors for cancer therapy. Linoleic acid hydroperoxide (LAHP) is coordinated with transition metal ions (Cu²⁺/Fe³⁺) to prepare linoleic acid hydroperoxide metal complex nanoparticles (LAHP-M NPs). iRGD combined with R7 decoration endows the nanoparticles with tumor targeting and penetration ability. We show that the polypeptide carries the nanoparticles into deep tumors, and thereafter the nanoparticles are disassembled into LAHP and catalytical metal ions to produce ¹O₂ based on the Russell mechanism under the stimulation of acidic pH. The elevated ROS induces necrotic cell death in vitro and in vivo, and further causes immunogenic cell death (ICD). This study demonstrates the effectiveness of exploiting biochemical reactions as a spatial-temporal strategy to overcome the current limitations of photodynamic therapy.

Identification of Genes Related to 5-Fluorouracil Based Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer

Background

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies and its incidence and mortality are increasing yearly. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) has long been used as a standard first-line treatment for CRC patients. Although 5-FU-based chemotherapy is effective for advanced CRC, the consequent resistance remains a key problem and causes the poor prognosis of CRC patients. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify new biomarkers to predict the response to 5-FU-based chemotherapy.

Methods

CRC samples were retrieved from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The immune-related genes were retrieved from the ImmPort database. Single-cell sequencing results from colorectal cancer were obtained by the ArrayExpress database. 5-FU resistance-related genes were filtered and validated by R packages. ESTIMATE algorithms were used to assess the tumor microenvironment (TME). KEGG and GO analysis were performed to explore the biological signaling pathway for resistant-response patients and sensitive-response patients in the tumor microenvironment. pRRophetic algorithms were used to predict 5-FU sensitivity. GSEA and GSVA analysis was performed to excavate the biological signaling pathway of the RBP7 gene.

Results

Nine immune-related genes were identified to be associated with 5-FU resistance and poor disease-free survival (DFS) of CRC patients and the signature of these genes was developed in a DFS-prognostic model. Four immune-related genes were determined to be associated with 5-FU resistance and overall survival (OS) of CRC patients. The signature of these genes was developed an OS-prognostic model. ESTIMATE scores showed a significant difference between 5-FU resistant and 5-FU sensitive CRC patients. Resistant-response patients and sensitive-response patients to 5-FU based chemotherapy showed different GO and KEGG enrichment on the tumor microenvironment. RBP7, as a tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) related gene, was found to have the potential of predicting chemotherapy resistance and poor prognosis of CRC patients. GSEA analysis showed multiple signaling differences between the high and low expression of RBP7 in CRC patients. Hypoxia and TNFα signaling via NFκB gene sets were significantly different between chemotherapy resistant (RBP7^High) and chemotherapy sensitive (RBP7^Low) patients. Single-cell RNA-seq suggested RBP7 was centrally distributed in endothelial stalk cells, endothelial tip cells, and myeloid cells.

Conclusions

Immune-related genes will hopefully be potential prognostic biomarkers to predict chemotherapy resistance for CRC. RBP7 may function as a tumor microenvironment regulator to induce 5-FU resistance, thereby affecting the prognosis of CRC patients.

ATR-mediated CD47 and PD-L1 up-regulation restricts radiotherapy-induced immune priming and abscopal responses in colorectal cancer

Radiotherapy (RT) of colorectal cancer (CRC) can prime adaptive immunity against tumor-associated antigen (TAA)-expressing CRC cells systemically. However, abscopal tumor remissions are extremely rare, and the postirradiation immune escape mechanisms in CRC remain elusive. Here, we found that irradiated CRC cells used ATR-mediated DNA repair signaling pathway to up-regulate both CD47 and PD-L1, which through engagement of SIRPα and PD-1, respectively, prevented phagocytosis by antigen-presenting cells and thereby limited TAA cross-presentation and innate immune activation. This postirradiation CD47 and PD-L1 up-regulation was observed across various human solid tumor cells. Concordantly, rectal cancer patients with poor responses to neoadjuvant RT exhibited significantly elevated postirradiation CD47 levels. The combination of RT, anti-SIRPα, and anti-PD-1 reversed adaptive immune resistance and drove efficient TAA cross-presentation, resulting in robust TAA-specific CD8 T cell priming, functional activation of T effectors, and increased T cell clonality and clonal diversity. We observed significantly higher complete response rates to RT/anti-SIRPα/anti-PD-1 in both irradiated and abscopal tumors and prolonged survival in three distinct murine CRC models, including a cecal orthotopic model. The efficacy of triple combination therapy was STING dependent as knockout animals lost most benefit of adding anti-SIRPα and anti-PD-1 to RT. Despite activation across the myeloid stroma, the enhanced dendritic cell function accounts for most improvements in CD8 T cell priming. These data suggest ATR-mediated CD47 and PD-L1 up-regulation as a key mechanism restraining radiation-induced immune priming. RT combined with SIRPα and PD-1 blockade promotes robust antitumor immune priming, leading to systemic tumor regressions.

Tumor Immunogenomic Features Determine Outcomes in Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Treated with Standard-of-Care Combinations of Bevacizumab and Cetuximab

PURPOSE

CALGB/SWOG 80405 was a randomized phase III trial in first-line patients with metastatic colorectal cancer treated with bevacizumab, cetuximab, or both, plus chemotherapy. We tested the effect of tumor immune features on overall survival (OS).

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Primary tumors (N = 554) were profiled by RNA sequencing. Immune signatures of macrophages, lymphocytes, TGFβ, IFNγ, wound healing, and cytotoxicity were measured. CIBERSORTx scores of naive and memory B cells, plasma cells, CD8+ T cells, resting and activated memory CD4+ T cells, M0 and M2 macrophages, and activated mast cells were measured.

RESULTS

Increased M2 macrophage score [HR, 6.30; 95% confidence interval (CI), 3.0-12.15] and TGFβ signature expression (HR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.05-1.77) were associated with shorter OS. Increased scores of plasma cells (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.38-0.87) and activated memory CD4+ T cells (HR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.16-0.65) were associated with longer OS. Using optimal cutoffs from these four features, patients were categorized as having either 4, 3, 2, or 0-1 beneficial features associated with longer OS, and the median (95% CI) OS decreased from 42.5 (35.8-47.8) to 31.0 (28.8-34.4), 25.2 (20.6-27.9), and 17.7 (13.5-20.4) months respectively (P = 3.48e-11).

CONCLUSIONS

New immune features can be further evaluated to improve patient response. They provide the rationale for more effective immunotherapy strategies.

Recent progress of circular RNAs in different types of human cancer: Technological landscape, clinical opportunities and challenges (Review)

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a novel class of endogenous non‑coding RNAs that have been recently regarded as functionally active. CircRNAs are remarkably stable and known to possess several biological functions such as microRNA sponging, regulating transcription and splicing and occasionally acting as polypeptide‑producing templates. CircRNAs show tissue‑specific expression and have been reported to be associated with the progression of several types of malignancies. Given the recent progress in genome sequencing and bioinformatics techniques, a rapid increment in the biological role of circRNAs has been observed. Concurrently, the patent search from different patent databases shows that the patent number of circRNA is increasing very quickly. These phenomena reveal a rapid development of the technological landscape. In the present review, the recent progress on circRNAs in various kinds of cancer has been investigated and their function as biomarkers or therapeutic targets and their technological landscape have been appreciated. A new insight into circRNAs structure and functional capabilities in cancer has been reviewed. Continually increasing knowledge on their critical role during cancer progression is projecting them as biomarkers or therapeutic targets for various kinds of cancer. Thus, recent updates on the functional role of circRNAs in terms of the technological landscape, clinical opportunities (biomarkers and therapeutic targets), and challenges in cancer have been illustrated.

Tumor Microenvironment Shapes Colorectal Cancer Progression, Metastasis, and Treatment Responses

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most devastating diseases that accounts for numerous deaths worldwide. Tumor cell-autonomous pathways, such as the oncogenic signaling activation, significantly contribute to CRC progression and metastasis. Recent accumulating evidence suggests that the CRC microenvironment also profoundly promotes or represses this process. As the roles of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in CRC progression and metastasis is gradually uncovered, the importance of these non-cell-autonomous signaling pathways is appreciated. However, we are still at the beginning of this TME function exploring process. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the TME in CRC progression and metastasis by focusing on the gut microbiota and host cellular and non-cellular components. We also briefly discuss TME-remodeling therapies in CRC.

Role of Circular RNAs in the Regulation of Immune Cells in Response to Cancer Therapies

Circular RNAs (CircRNAs) are a class of small endogenous noncoding RNA that are formed by means of either the spliceosome or lariat-type splicing. CircRNAs have multiple regulatory functions and have been detected in different cell types, like normal, tumor and immune cells. CircRNAs have been suggested to regulate T cell functions in response to cancer. CircRNAs can enter into T cells and promote the expression of molecules that either trigger antitumoral responses or promote suppression and the consequent evasion to the immune response. Additionally, circRNAs may promote tumor progression and resistance to anticancer treatment in different types of neoplasias. In this minireview we discuss the impact of circRNAs and its function in the regulation of the T-cells in immune response caused by cancer therapies.

Systemic Interleukins' Profile in Early and Advanced Colorectal Cancer

Tumor microenvironment (TME) is characterized by mutual interactions of the tumor, stromal and immune cells. Early and advanced colorectal tumors differ in structure and present altered serum cytokine levels. Mutual crosstalk among TME infiltrating cells may shift the balance into immune suppressive or pro-inflammatory, antitumor response this way influencing patients' prognosis. Cancer-related inflammation affects all the body and this way, the systemic level of cytokines could reflect TME processes. Despite numerous studies, it is still not known how systemic cytokines levels change during colorectal cancer (CRC) tumor development. Better understanding tumor microenvironment processes could help in planning therapeutic interventions and more accurate patient prognosis. To contribute to the comprehension of these processes within TME, we reviewed cytokines levels from clinical trials in early and advanced colorectal cancer. Presented data were analyzed in the context of experimental studies and studies analyzing tumor infiltration with immune cells. The review summarizes clinical data of cytokines secreted by tumor microenvironment cells: lymphocytes T helper 1 (Th1), lymphocytes T helper 2 (Th2), lymphocytes T helper 17 (Th17), regulatory T cells (Treg cells), regulatory T cells (Breg cells), M1/M2 macrophages, N1/N2 neutrophils, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), dendritic cells (DC), innate lymphoid cells (ILC) natural killer (NK) cells and tumor cells.