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Huang Y, Zhang HL, Li ZL, Du T, Chen YH, Wang Y, Ni HH, Zhang KM, Mai J, Hu BX, Huang JH, Zhou LH, Yang D, Peng XD, Feng GK, Tang J, Zhu XF, Deng R. FUT8-mediated aberrant N-glycosylation of B7H3 suppresses the immune response in triple-negative breast cancer. Nat Commun 2021; 12:2672. [PMID: 33976130 PMCID: PMC8113546 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22618-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2020] [Accepted: 03/15/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Most patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) do not respond to anti-PD1/PDL1 immunotherapy, indicating the necessity to explore immune checkpoint targets. B7H3 is a highly glycosylated protein. However, the mechanisms of B7H3 glycosylation regulation and whether the sugar moiety contributes to immunosuppression are unclear. Here, we identify aberrant B7H3 glycosylation and show that N-glycosylation of B7H3 at NXT motif sites is responsible for its protein stability and immunosuppression in TNBC tumors. The fucosyltransferase FUT8 catalyzes B7H3 core fucosylation at N-glycans to maintain its high expression. Knockdown of FUT8 rescues glycosylated B7H3-mediated immunosuppressive function in TNBC cells. Abnormal B7H3 glycosylation mediated by FUT8 overexpression can be physiologically important and clinically relevant in patients with TNBC. Notably, the combination of core fucosylation inhibitor 2F-Fuc and anti-PDL1 results in enhanced therapeutic efficacy in B7H3-positive TNBC tumors. These findings suggest that targeting the FUT8-B7H3 axis might be a promising strategy for improving anti-tumor immune responses in patients with TNBC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Hai-Liang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhi-Ling Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Tian Du
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Breast Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yu-Hong Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yan Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Breast Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Huan-He Ni
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Kai-Ming Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Breast Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jia Mai
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Bing-Xin Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jun-Hao Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Breast Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Li-Huan Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Breast Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Dong Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xiao-Dan Peng
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Gong-Kan Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jun Tang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
- Department of Breast Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Xiao-Feng Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Rong Deng
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
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Ni HH, Zhang L, Huang H, Dai SQ, Li J. Connecting METTL3 and intratumoural CD33 + MDSCs in predicting clinical outcome in cervical cancer. J Transl Med 2020; 18:393. [PMID: 33059689 PMCID: PMC7565373 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-020-02553-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [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] [Received: 05/04/2020] [Accepted: 09/27/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) is a member of the m6A methyltransferase family and acts as an oncogene in cancers. Recent studies suggest that host innate immunity is regulated by the enzymes controlling m6A epitranscriptomic changes. Here, we aim to explore the associations between the levels of METTL3 and CD33+ myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in tumour tissues and the survival of patients with cervical cancer (CC). Methods Specimens of paraffin embedded tumour from 197 CC patients were collected. The expression levels of METTL3 and CD33 were measured by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. The clinical associations of the IHC variants were analysed by Pearson’s or Spearman’s chi-square tests. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method and log-rank test. Hazard ratios (HRs) and independent significance were obtained via Cox proportional hazards models for multivariate analyses. METTL3 in CD33+ cells or CC-derived cells was knocked down by METTL3-specific siRNA, and MDSC induction in vitro was performed in a co-culture system in the presence of METTL3-siRNA and METTL3-knockdown-CC-derived cells compared with that of the corresponding controls. Results We found that tumour tissues displayed increased levels of METTL3 and CD33+ MDSCs compared with tumour-adjacent tissues from the same CC patients. Importantly, METTL3 expression was positively related to the density of CD33+ cells in tumour tissues (P = 0.011). We further found that the direct CD33+CD11b+HLA-DR− MDSC induction and tumour-derived MDSC induction in vitro were decreased in the absence of METTL3. The level of METTL3 in tumour microenvironments was significantly related to advanced tumour stage. The levels of METTL3 and CD33+ MDSCs in tumour tissues were notably associated with reduced DFS or OS. Cox model analysis revealed that the level of METTL3 in tumour cells was an independent factor for patient survival, specifically for DFS (HR = 3.157, P = 0.022) and OS (HR = 3.271, P = 0.012), while the CD33+ MDSC number was an independent predictor for DFS (HR: 3.958, P = 0.031). Interestingly, in patients with advanced-disease stages (II–IV), METTL3 in tumour cells was an independent factor for DFS (HR = 6.725, P = 0.010) and OS (HR = 5.140, P = 0.021), while CD33+ MDSC density was an independent factor for OS (HR = 8.802, P = 0.037). Conclusion Our findings suggest that CD33+ MDSC expansion is linked to high levels of METTL3 and that METTL3 and CD33+ MDSCs are independent prognostic factors in CC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huan-He Ni
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, P. R. China.,Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, China
| | - Lin Zhang
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510060, P.R. China
| | - He Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, P. R. China.,Department of Gynecological Oncology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, China
| | - Shu-Qin Dai
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510060, P.R. China.
| | - Jiang Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, P. R. China. .,Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng East Road, Guangzhou, 510060, China.
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Liu YN, Yang JF, Huang DJ, Ni HH, Zhang CX, Zhang L, He J, Gu JM, Chen HX, Mai HQ, Chen QY, Zhang XS, Gao S, Li J. Hypoxia Induces Mitochondrial Defect That Promotes T Cell Exhaustion in Tumor Microenvironment Through MYC-Regulated Pathways. Front Immunol 2020; 11:1906. [PMID: 32973789 PMCID: PMC7472844 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.01906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [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] [Received: 04/22/2020] [Accepted: 07/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
T cell exhaustion is an obstacle to immunotherapy for solid tumors. An understanding of the mechanism by which T cells develop this phenotype in solid tumors is needed. Here, hypoxia, a feature of the tumor microenvironment, causes T cell exhaustion (TExh) by inducing a mitochondrial defect. Upon exposure to hypoxia, activated T cells with a TExh phenotype are characterized by mitochondrial fragmentation, decreased ATP production, and decreased mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation activity. The TExh phenotype is correlated with the downregulation of the mitochondrial fusion protein mitofusin 1 (MFN1) and upregulation of miR-24. Overexpression of miR-24 alters the transcription of many metabolism-related genes including its target genes MYC and fibroblast growth factor 11 (FGF11). Downregulation of MYC and FGF11 induces TExh differentiation, reduced ATP production and a loss of the mitochondrial mass in T cell receptor (TCR)-stimulated T cells. In addition, we determined that MYC regulates the transcription of FGF11 and MFN1. In nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tissues, the T cells exhibit an increased frequency of exhaustion and loss of mitochondrial mass. In addition, inhibition of miR-24 signaling decreases NPC xenograft growth in nude mice. Our findings reveal a mechanism for T cell exhaustion in the tumor environment and provide potential strategies that target mitochondrial metabolism for cancer immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Na Liu
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jie-Feng Yang
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China
| | - Dai-Jia Huang
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China
| | - Huan-He Ni
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China
| | - Chuan-Xia Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Gene Engineering of the Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lin Zhang
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jia He
- Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jia-Mei Gu
- Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Hong-Xia Chen
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China
| | - Hai-Qiang Mai
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China.,Department of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qiu-Yan Chen
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China.,Department of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xiao-Shi Zhang
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China.,Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Song Gao
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China.,Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jiang Li
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China.,Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.,Department of Research and Development, Shenzhen Institute for Innovation and Translational Medicine, Shenzhen International Biological Valley-Life Science Industrial Park, Shenzhen, China
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