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Somasundaram R, Connelly T, Choi R, Choi H, Samarkina A, Li L, Gregorio E, Chen Y, Thakur R, Abdel-Mohsen M, Beqiri M, Kiernan M, Perego M, Wang F, Xiao M, Brafford P, Yang X, Xu X, Secreto A, Danet-Desnoyers G, Traum D, Kaestner KH, Huang AC, Hristova D, Wang J, Fukunaga-Kalabis M, Krepler C, Ping-Chen F, Zhou X, Gutierrez A, Rebecca VW, Vonteddu P, Dotiwala F, Bala S, Majumdar S, Dweep H, Wickramasinghe J, Kossenkov AV, Reyes-Arbujas J, Santiago K, Nguyen T, Griss J, Keeney F, Hayden J, Gavin BJ, Weiner D, Montaner LJ, Liu Q, Peiffer L, Becker J, Burton EM, Davies MA, Tetzlaff MT, Muthumani K, Wargo JA, Gabrilovich D, Herlyn M. Tumor-infiltrating mast cells are associated with resistance to anti-PD-1 therapy. Nat Commun 2021; 12:346. [PMID: 33436641 PMCID: PMC7804257 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20600-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.7] [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: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Anti-PD-1 therapy is used as a front-line treatment for many cancers, but mechanistic insight into this therapy resistance is still lacking. Here we generate a humanized (Hu)-mouse melanoma model by injecting fetal liver-derived CD34+ cells and implanting autologous thymus in immune-deficient NOD-scid IL2Rγnull (NSG) mice. Reconstituted Hu-mice are challenged with HLA-matched melanomas and treated with anti-PD-1, which results in restricted tumor growth but not complete regression. Tumor RNA-seq, multiplexed imaging and immunohistology staining show high expression of chemokines, as well as recruitment of FOXP3+ Treg and mast cells, in selective tumor regions. Reduced HLA-class I expression and CD8+/Granz B+ T cells homeostasis are observed in tumor regions where FOXP3+ Treg and mast cells co-localize, with such features associated with resistance to anti-PD-1 treatment. Combining anti-PD-1 with sunitinib or imatinib results in the depletion of mast cells and complete regression of tumors. Our results thus implicate mast cell depletion for improving the efficacy of anti-PD-1 therapy. Immune checkpoint therapies (ICT) are promising for treating various cancers, but response rates vary. Here the authors show, in mouse models, that tumor-infiltrating mast cells colocalize with regulatory T cells, coincide with local reduction of MHC-I and CD8 T cells, and is associated with resistance to ICT, which can be reversed by c-kit inhibitor treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Robin Choi
- The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | | | - Ling Li
- The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | | | - Rohit Thakur
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Fang Wang
- The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Min Xiao
- The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | - Xue Yang
- The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Xiaowei Xu
- Department of Pathology and Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Anthony Secreto
- Department of Medicine, Stem Cell and Xenograft Core, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Gwenn Danet-Desnoyers
- Department of Medicine, Stem Cell and Xenograft Core, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Daniel Traum
- Department of Genetics and Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Klaus H Kaestner
- Department of Genetics and Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Alexander C Huang
- Department of Pathology and Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Johannes Griss
- Division of Immunology, Allergy and Infectious Diseases (DIAID), Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Qin Liu
- The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | | | - Elizabeth M Burton
- Department of Surgical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Michael A Davies
- Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Michael T Tetzlaff
- Department of Pathology and Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Kar Muthumani
- The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA.,GeneOne Life Science Inc., Fort Washington, PA, USA
| | - Jennifer A Wargo
- Department of Surgical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
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