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Hornsteiner F, Vierthaler J, Strandt H, Resag A, Fu Z, Ausserhofer M, Tripp CH, Dieckmann S, Kanduth M, Farrand K, Bregar S, Nemati N, Hermann-Kleiter N, Seretis A, Morla S, Mullins D, Finotello F, Trajanoski Z, Wollmann G, Ronchese F, Schmitz M, Hermans IF, Stoitzner P. Tumor-targeted therapy with BRAF-inhibitor recruits activated dendritic cells to promote tumor immunity in melanoma. J Immunother Cancer 2024; 12:e008606. [PMID: 38631706 PMCID: PMC11029477 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2023-008606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Tumor-targeted therapy causes impressive tumor regression, but the emergence of resistance limits long-term survival benefits in patients. Little information is available on the role of the myeloid cell network, especially dendritic cells (DC) during tumor-targeted therapy. METHODS Here, we investigated therapy-mediated immunological alterations in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and tumor-draining lymph nodes (LN) in the D4M.3A preclinical melanoma mouse model (harboring the V-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B (BRAF)V600E mutation) by using high-dimensional multicolor flow cytometry in combination with multiplex immunohistochemistry. This was complemented with RNA sequencing and cytokine quantification to characterize the immune status of the tumors. The importance of T cells during tumor-targeted therapy was investigated by depleting CD4+ or CD8+ T cells in tumor-bearing mice. Tumor antigen-specific T-cell responses were characterized by performing in vivo T-cell proliferation assays and the contribution of conventional type 1 DC (cDC1) to T-cell immunity during tumor-targeted therapy was assessed using Batf3-/- mice lacking cDC1. RESULTS Our findings reveal that BRAF-inhibitor therapy increased tumor immunogenicity, reflected by an upregulation of genes associated with immune activation. The T cell-inflamed TME contained higher numbers of activated cDC1 and cDC2 but also inflammatory CCR2-expressing monocytes. At the same time, tumor-targeted therapy enhanced the frequency of migratory, activated DC subsets in tumor-draining LN. Even more, we identified a cDC2 population expressing the Fc gamma receptor I (FcγRI)/CD64 in tumors and LN that displayed high levels of CD40 and CCR7 indicating involvement in T cell-mediated tumor immunity. The importance of cDC2 is underlined by just a partial loss of therapy response in a cDC1-deficient mouse model. Both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were essential for therapy response as their respective depletion impaired therapy success. On resistance development, the tumors reverted to an immunologically inert state with a loss of DC and inflammatory monocytes together with the accumulation of regulatory T cells. Moreover, tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells were compromised in proliferation and interferon-γ-production. CONCLUSION Our results give novel insights into the remodeling of the myeloid landscape by tumor-targeted therapy. We demonstrate that the transient immunogenic tumor milieu contains more activated DC. This knowledge has important implications for the development of future combinatorial therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florian Hornsteiner
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Janine Vierthaler
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Helen Strandt
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Antonia Resag
- Institute of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
| | - Zhe Fu
- Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Markus Ausserhofer
- Department of Molecular Biology, Digital Science Center (DiSC), University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Christoph H Tripp
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Sophie Dieckmann
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Markus Kanduth
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Kathryn Farrand
- Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Sarah Bregar
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Niloofar Nemati
- Biocenter, Institute of Bioinformatics, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Natascha Hermann-Kleiter
- Institute of Cell Genetics, Department for Genetics and Pharmacology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Athanasios Seretis
- Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Sudhir Morla
- Institute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - David Mullins
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Francesca Finotello
- Department of Molecular Biology, Digital Science Center (DiSC), University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Zlatko Trajanoski
- Biocenter, Institute of Bioinformatics, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Guido Wollmann
- Institute of Virology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Franca Ronchese
- Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Marc Schmitz
- Institute of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
| | - Ian F Hermans
- Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Patrizia Stoitzner
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
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2
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Probst HC, Stoitzner P, Amon L, Backer RA, Brand A, Chen J, Clausen BE, Dieckmann S, Dudziak D, Heger L, Hodapp K, Hornsteiner F, Hovav AH, Jacobi L, Ji X, Kamenjarin N, Lahl K, Lahmar I, Lakus J, Lehmann CHK, Ortner D, Picard M, Roberti MP, Rossnagel L, Saba Y, Schalla C, Schlitzer A, Schraml BU, Schütze K, Seichter A, Seré K, Seretis A, Sopper S, Strandt H, Sykora MM, Theobald H, Tripp CH, Zitvogel L. Guidelines for DC preparation and flow cytometry analysis of mouse nonlymphoid tissues. Eur J Immunol 2023; 53:e2249819. [PMID: 36512638 DOI: 10.1002/eji.202249819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2022] [Revised: 08/24/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
This article is part of the Dendritic Cell Guidelines article series, which provides a collection of state-of-the-art protocols for the preparation, phenotype analysis by flow cytometry, generation, fluorescence microscopy and functional characterization of mouse and human dendritic cells (DC) from lymphoid organs and various nonlymphoid tissues. DC are sentinels of the immune system present in almost every mammalian organ. Since they represent a rare cell population, DC need to be extracted from organs with protocols that are specifically developed for each tissue. This article provides detailed protocols for the preparation of single-cell suspensions from various mouse nonlymphoid tissues, including skin, intestine, lung, kidney, mammary glands, oral mucosa and transplantable tumors. Furthermore, our guidelines include comprehensive protocols for multiplex flow cytometry analysis of DC subsets and feature top tricks for their proper discrimination from other myeloid cells. With this collection, we provide guidelines for in-depth analysis of DC subsets that will advance our understanding of their respective roles in healthy and diseased tissues. While all protocols were written by experienced scientists who routinely use them in their work, this article was also peer-reviewed by leading experts and approved by all coauthors, making it an essential resource for basic and clinical DC immunologists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans Christian Probst
- Institute of Immunology, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Patrizia Stoitzner
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Lukas Amon
- Laboratory of Dendritic Cell Biology, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Erlangen, Hartmannstraße 14, D-91052, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Ronald A Backer
- Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
- Institute for Molecular Medicine, Paul Klein Center for Immune Intervention, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Anna Brand
- Institute for Molecular Medicine, Paul Klein Center for Immune Intervention, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Jianzhou Chen
- Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus (GRCC), U1015 INSERM, University Paris Saclay, Villejuif, France
| | - Björn E Clausen
- Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
- Institute for Molecular Medicine, Paul Klein Center for Immune Intervention, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Sophie Dieckmann
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Diana Dudziak
- Laboratory of Dendritic Cell Biology, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Erlangen, Hartmannstraße 14, D-91052, Erlangen, Germany
- Medical Immunology Campus Erlangen (MICE), D-91054, Erlangen, Germany
- Deutsches Zentrum Immuntherapie (DZI), Germany
- Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU), Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
| | - Lukas Heger
- Laboratory of Dendritic Cell Biology, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Erlangen, Hartmannstraße 14, D-91052, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Katrin Hodapp
- Institute of Immunology, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Florian Hornsteiner
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Avi-Hai Hovav
- Institute of Biomedical and Oral Research, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Lukas Jacobi
- Laboratory of Dendritic Cell Biology, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Erlangen, Hartmannstraße 14, D-91052, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Xingqi Ji
- Walter-Brendel-Centre of Experimental Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
- Institute for Cardiovascular Physiology and Pathophysiology, Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Nadine Kamenjarin
- Institute of Immunology, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Katharina Lahl
- Section for Experimental and Translational Immunology, Institute for Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Kongens Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
- Immunology Section, Lund University, Lund, 221 84, Sweden
| | - Imran Lahmar
- Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus (GRCC), U1015 INSERM, University Paris Saclay, Villejuif, France
| | - Jelena Lakus
- Institute for Molecular Medicine, Paul Klein Center for Immune Intervention, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Christian H K Lehmann
- Laboratory of Dendritic Cell Biology, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Erlangen, Hartmannstraße 14, D-91052, Erlangen, Germany
- Medical Immunology Campus Erlangen (MICE), D-91054, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Daniela Ortner
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Marion Picard
- Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus (GRCC), U1015 INSERM, University Paris Saclay, Villejuif, France
| | - Maria Paula Roberti
- Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus (GRCC), U1015 INSERM, University Paris Saclay, Villejuif, France
- Department of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD), Heidelberg, Germany
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Applied Tumor Immunity, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Lukas Rossnagel
- Laboratory of Dendritic Cell Biology, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Erlangen, Hartmannstraße 14, D-91052, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Yasmin Saba
- Institute of Biomedical and Oral Research, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Carmen Schalla
- Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Department of Cell Biology, RWTH Aachen University Medical School, Aachen, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Andreas Schlitzer
- Quantitative Systems Biology, Life and Medical Sciences (LIMES) Institute, University of Bonn, Germany
| | - Barbara U Schraml
- Walter-Brendel-Centre of Experimental Medicine, University Hospital, LMU Munich, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
- Institute for Cardiovascular Physiology and Pathophysiology, Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Kristian Schütze
- Institute of Immunology, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
- Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Anna Seichter
- Laboratory of Dendritic Cell Biology, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Erlangen, Hartmannstraße 14, D-91052, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Kristin Seré
- Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Department of Cell Biology, RWTH Aachen University Medical School, Aachen, Germany
- Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Athanasios Seretis
- Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Sieghart Sopper
- Internal Medicine V, Hematology and Oncology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
- Tyrolean Cancer Research Center, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Helen Strandt
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Martina M Sykora
- Internal Medicine V, Hematology and Oncology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
- Tyrolean Cancer Research Center, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Hannah Theobald
- Quantitative Systems Biology, Life and Medical Sciences (LIMES) Institute, University of Bonn, Germany
| | - Christoph H Tripp
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Laurence Zitvogel
- Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus (GRCC), U1015 INSERM, University Paris Saclay, Villejuif, France
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3
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Hornsteiner F, Sykora MM, Tripp CH, Sopper S, Stoitzner P. Mouse dendritic cells and other myeloid subtypes in healthy lymph nodes and skin: 26-Color flow cytometry panel for immune phenotyping. Eur J Immunol 2022; 52:2006-2009. [PMID: 35944142 PMCID: PMC10087122 DOI: 10.1002/eji.202250004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2022] [Revised: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
This novel 26-color flow cytometry panel allows the detailed immune phenotyping of the complex network of myeloid cells in murine lymph nodes and skin. With the optimized panel the different murine DC-subsets and other myeloid cell types can be identified and further characterized for co-stimulatory and inhibitory surface molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florian Hornsteiner
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Martina M Sykora
- Internal Medicine V, Hematology and Oncology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.,Tyrolean Cancer Research Center, Innsbruck, Austria.,Department Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Christoph H Tripp
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Sieghart Sopper
- Internal Medicine V, Hematology and Oncology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.,Tyrolean Cancer Research Center, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Patrizia Stoitzner
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
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4
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Prokopi A, Tripp CH, Tummers B, Hornsteiner F, Spoeck S, Crawford JC, Clements DR, Efremova M, Hutter K, Bellmann L, Cappellano G, Cadilha BL, Kobold S, Boon L, Ortner D, Trajanoski Z, Chen S, de Gruijl TD, Idoyaga J, Green DR, Stoitzner P. Skin dendritic cells in melanoma are key for successful checkpoint blockade therapy. J Immunother Cancer 2021; 9:jitc-2020-000832. [PMID: 33408092 PMCID: PMC7789456 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2020-000832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors has shown impressive results in patients with melanoma, but still many do not benefit from this line of treatment. A lack of tumor-infiltrating T cells is a common reason for therapy failure but also a loss of intratumoral dendritic cells (DCs) has been described. METHODS We used the transgenic tg(Grm1)EPv melanoma mouse strain that develops spontaneous, slow-growing tumors to perform immunological analysis during tumor progression. With flow cytometry, the frequencies of DCs and T cells at different tumor stages and the expression of the inhibitory molecules programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) and T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin-domain containing-3 (TIM-3) on T cells were analyzed. This was complemented with RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis to investigate the immune status of the tumors. To boost DC numbers and function, we administered Fms-related tyrosine 3 ligand (Flt3L) plus an adjuvant mix of polyI:C and anti-CD40. To enhance T cell function, we tested several checkpoint blockade antibodies. Immunological alterations were characterized in tumor and tumor-draining lymph nodes (LNs) by flow cytometry, CyTOF, microarray and RT-qPCR to understand how immune cells can control tumor growth. The specific role of migratory skin DCs was investigated by coculture of sorted DC subsets with melanoma-specific CD8+ T cells. RESULTS Our study revealed that tumor progression is characterized by upregulation of checkpoint molecules and a gradual loss of the dermal conventional DC (cDC) 2 subset. Monotherapy with checkpoint blockade could not restore antitumor immunity, whereas boosting DC numbers and activation increased tumor immunogenicity. This was reflected by higher numbers of activated cDC1 and cDC2 as well as CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in treated tumors. At the same time, the DC boost approach reinforced migratory dermal DC subsets to prime gp100-specific CD8+ T cells in tumor-draining LNs that expressed PD-1/TIM-3 and produced interferon γ (IFNγ)/tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα). As a consequence, the combination of the DC boost with antibodies against PD-1 and TIM-3 released the brake from T cells, leading to improved function within the tumors and delayed tumor growth. CONCLUSIONS Our results set forth the importance of skin DC in cancer immunotherapy, and demonstrates that restoring DC function is key to enhancing tumor immunogenicity and subsequently responsiveness to checkpoint blockade therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasia Prokopi
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Christoph H Tripp
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Bart Tummers
- Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Florian Hornsteiner
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Sarah Spoeck
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Jeremy Chase Crawford
- Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Derek R Clements
- Department of Micobiology & Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Mirjana Efremova
- Institute of Bioinformatics, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Katharina Hutter
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Lydia Bellmann
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Giuseppe Cappellano
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Bruno L Cadilha
- Center of Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPS-M) and Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine IV, Klinikum der Universität München, LMU Munich, Germany.,Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Munich, Germany
| | - Sebastian Kobold
- Center of Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPS-M) and Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine IV, Klinikum der Universität München, LMU Munich, Germany.,Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Munich, Germany.,German Center for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK), partner site Munich, Munich, Germany
| | | | - Daniela Ortner
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Zlatko Trajanoski
- Institute of Bioinformatics, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Suzie Chen
- Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and Rutgers Cancer Institute, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
| | - Tanja D de Gruijl
- Department of Medical Oncology, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Juliana Idoyaga
- Department of Micobiology & Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Douglas R Green
- Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Patrizia Stoitzner
- Department of Dermatology, Venereology & Allergology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
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5
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Radlinger B, Hornsteiner F, Folie S, Salvenmoser W, Haubner BJ, Schuetz T, Haas S, Ress C, Adolph TE, Salzmann K, Weiss B, Tilg H, Kaser S. Cardioprotective effects of short-term empagliflozin treatment in db/db mice. Sci Rep 2020; 10:19686. [PMID: 33184414 PMCID: PMC7665199 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76698-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2020] [Accepted: 08/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Sodium glucose transporter (SGLT)-2 inhibitors have consistently shown cardioprotective effects independent of the glycemic status of treated patients. In this study we aimed to investigate underlying mechanisms of short-term empagliflozin treatment in a mouse model of type II diabetes. Male db/db mice were fed a western type diet with or without enrichment with empagliflozin for 7 days. While glucose tolerance was significantly improved in empagliflozin treated mice, body weight and fasting insulin levels were comparable in both groups. Cardiac insulin signaling activity indicated by reduced proteinkinase B (AKT) phosphorylation was significantly decreased in the empagliflozin treated group. Remarkably, mitochondrial mass estimated by citrate synthase activity was significantly elevated in empagliflozin treated mice. Accordingly, mitochondrial morphology was significantly altered upon treatment with empagliflozin as analysed by transmission electron microscopy. Additionally, short-term empagliflozin therapy was associated with a changed cardiac tissue cytokine expression in favor of an anti-inflammatory pattern. Our data suggest that early cardioprotection in empagliflozin treated mice is independent of a reduction in body weight or hyperinsulinemia. Ameliorated mitochondrial ultrastructure, attenuated cardiac insulin signaling and diminished cardiac inflammation might contribute to the cardioprotective effects of empagliflozin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernhard Radlinger
- Department of Internal Medicine I, Christian Doppler Laboratory for Metabolic Crosstalk, Medical University Innsbruck, Anichstraße 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.,Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Florian Hornsteiner
- Department of Internal Medicine I, Christian Doppler Laboratory for Metabolic Crosstalk, Medical University Innsbruck, Anichstraße 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.,Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Sabrina Folie
- Department of Internal Medicine I, Christian Doppler Laboratory for Metabolic Crosstalk, Medical University Innsbruck, Anichstraße 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.,Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Willi Salvenmoser
- Insitute of Zoology and Center of Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CBMI), Leopold Franzens University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Bernhard J Haubner
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Thomas Schuetz
- Department of Internal Medicine III, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Simone Haas
- Department of Internal Medicine I, Christian Doppler Laboratory for Metabolic Crosstalk, Medical University Innsbruck, Anichstraße 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.,Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Claudia Ress
- Department of Internal Medicine I, Christian Doppler Laboratory for Metabolic Crosstalk, Medical University Innsbruck, Anichstraße 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.,Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Timon E Adolph
- Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Karin Salzmann
- Department of Internal Medicine I, Christian Doppler Laboratory for Metabolic Crosstalk, Medical University Innsbruck, Anichstraße 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.,Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Bernhard Weiss
- Department of Internal Medicine I, Christian Doppler Laboratory for Metabolic Crosstalk, Medical University Innsbruck, Anichstraße 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.,Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Herbert Tilg
- Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Susanne Kaser
- Department of Internal Medicine I, Christian Doppler Laboratory for Metabolic Crosstalk, Medical University Innsbruck, Anichstraße 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria. .,Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
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