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Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW T-cell-engaging antibodies or T-cell engagers (TCEs) can connect a patient's cytotoxic T cells with cancer cells, leading to potent redirected lysis. Until very recently, only one TCE was approved, the CD19/CD3-bispecific blinatumomab. Many new TCEs in late-stage clinical development target various hematopoietic lineage markers like CD20, BCMA, or CD123. Although very compelling single-agent activity of TCEs was observed with various blood-borne cancers, therapy of solid tumor indications has thus far been less successful. RECENT FINDINGS The approval in 2022 of the gp100 peptide-major histocompatibility complex (MHC)/CD3 bispecific TCE tebentafusp in uveal melanoma confirms that TCEs can also efficiently work against solid tumors. TCEs targeting peptide-MHC complexes will expand the target space for solid tumor therapy to intracellular targets. Likewise, early clinical trial data from TCEs targeting DLL3 in small cell lunger cancer showed promising antitumor activity. Various technologies for conditional activation of TCEs in the tumor microenvironment (TME) may expand the scope of conventional surface targets that suffer from a narrow therapeutic window. Finally, pharmacological enhancements for TCE therapies by engagement of certain costimulatory receptors and cytokines, or blockade of checkpoints, are showing promise. SUMMARY Targeting peptide-MHC complexes, conditional TCE technologies, and concepts enhancing TCE-activated T cells are paving the way towards overcoming challenges associated with solid tumor therapy.
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Kaler CJ, Dollar JJ, Cruz AM, Kuznetsoff JN, Sanchez MI, Decatur CL, Licht JD, Smalley KSM, Correa ZM, Kurtenbach S, Harbour JW. BAP1 Loss Promotes Suppressive Tumor Immune Microenvironment via Upregulation of PROS1 in Class 2 Uveal Melanomas. Cancers (Basel) 2022; 14:3678. [PMID: 35954340 PMCID: PMC9367253 DOI: 10.3390/cancers14153678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2022] [Revised: 07/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary cancer of the eye and is associated with a high rate of metastatic death. UM can be stratified into two main classes based on metastatic risk, with class 1 UM having a low metastatic risk and class 2 UM having a high metastatic risk. Class 2 UM have a distinctive genomic, transcriptomic, histopathologic, and clinical phenotype characterized by biallelic inactivation of the BAP1 tumor-suppressor gene, an immune-suppressive microenvironment enriched for M2-polarized macrophages, and poor response to checkpoint-inhibitor immunotherapy. To identify potential mechanistic links between BAP1 loss and immune suppression in class 2 UM, we performed an integrated analysis of UM samples, as well as genetically engineered UM cell lines and uveal melanocytes (UMC). Using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), we found that the most highly upregulated gene associated with BAP1 loss across these datasets was PROS1, which encodes a ligand that triggers phosphorylation and activation of the immunosuppressive macrophage receptor MERTK. The inverse association between BAP1 and PROS1 in class 2 UM was confirmed by single-cell RNA-seq, which also revealed that MERTK was upregulated in CD163+ macrophages in class 2 UM. Using ChIP-seq, BAP1 knockdown in UM cells resulted in an accumulation of H3K27ac at the PROS1 locus, suggesting epigenetic regulation of PROS1 by BAP1. Phosphorylation of MERTK in RAW 264.7 monocyte-macrophage cells was increased upon coculture with BAP1-/- UMCs, and this phosphorylation was blocked by depletion of PROS1 in the UMCs. These findings were corroborated by multicolor immunohistochemistry, where class 2/BAP1-mutant UMs demonstrated increased PROS1 expression in tumor cells and increased MERTK phosphorylation in CD163+ macrophages compared with class 1/BAP1-wildtype UMs. Taken together, these findings provide a mechanistic link between BAP1 loss and the suppression of the tumor immune microenvironment in class 2 UMs, and they implicate the PROS1-MERTK pathway as a potential target for immunotherapy in UM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J. Kaler
- Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA; (C.J.K.); (J.J.D.); (A.M.C.); (J.N.K.); (M.I.S.); (C.L.D.); (Z.M.C.); (S.K.)
| | - James J. Dollar
- Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA; (C.J.K.); (J.J.D.); (A.M.C.); (J.N.K.); (M.I.S.); (C.L.D.); (Z.M.C.); (S.K.)
| | - Anthony M. Cruz
- Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA; (C.J.K.); (J.J.D.); (A.M.C.); (J.N.K.); (M.I.S.); (C.L.D.); (Z.M.C.); (S.K.)
| | - Jeffim N. Kuznetsoff
- Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA; (C.J.K.); (J.J.D.); (A.M.C.); (J.N.K.); (M.I.S.); (C.L.D.); (Z.M.C.); (S.K.)
| | - Margaret I. Sanchez
- Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA; (C.J.K.); (J.J.D.); (A.M.C.); (J.N.K.); (M.I.S.); (C.L.D.); (Z.M.C.); (S.K.)
| | - Christina L. Decatur
- Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA; (C.J.K.); (J.J.D.); (A.M.C.); (J.N.K.); (M.I.S.); (C.L.D.); (Z.M.C.); (S.K.)
| | - Jonathan D. Licht
- University of Florida Health Cancer Center, University of Florida Cancer and Genetics Research Complex, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA;
| | - Keiran S. M. Smalley
- Department of Tumor Biology, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL 33612, USA;
| | - Zelia M. Correa
- Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA; (C.J.K.); (J.J.D.); (A.M.C.); (J.N.K.); (M.I.S.); (C.L.D.); (Z.M.C.); (S.K.)
| | - Stefan Kurtenbach
- Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA; (C.J.K.); (J.J.D.); (A.M.C.); (J.N.K.); (M.I.S.); (C.L.D.); (Z.M.C.); (S.K.)
| | - J. William Harbour
- Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA; (C.J.K.); (J.J.D.); (A.M.C.); (J.N.K.); (M.I.S.); (C.L.D.); (Z.M.C.); (S.K.)
- Department of Ophthalmology and Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
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