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Peeters JGC, Silveria S, Ozdemir M, Ramachandran S, DuPage M. Increased EZH2 function in regulatory T cells promotes their capacity to suppress autoimmunity by driving effector differentiation prior to activation. bioRxiv 2024:2024.04.05.588284. [PMID: 38645261 PMCID: PMC11030251 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.05.588284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
The immunosuppressive function of regulatory T (Treg) cells is essential for maintaining immune homeostasis. Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), a histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27) methyltransferase, plays a key role in maintaining Treg cell function upon CD28 co-stimulation, and Ezh2 deletion in Treg cells causes autoimmunity. Here we assessed whether increased EZH2 activity in Treg cells would improve Treg cell function. Using an Ezh2 gain-of-function mutation, Ezh2 Y641F , we found that Treg cells expressing Ezh2 Y641F displayed an increased effector Treg phenotype and were poised for improved homing to organ tissues. Expression of Ezh2 Y641F in Treg cells led to more rapid remission from autoimmunity. H3K27me3 profiling and transcriptomic analysis revealed a redistribution of H3K27me3, which prompted a gene expression profile in naïve Ezh2 Y641F Treg cells that recapitulated aspects of CD28-activated Ezh2 WT Treg cells. Altogether, increased EZH2 activity promotes the differentiation of effector Treg cells that can better suppress autoimmunity. Highlights EZH2 function promotes effector differentiation of Treg cells.EZH2 function promotes Treg cell migration to organ tissues.EZH2 function in Treg cells improves remission from autoimmunity.EZH2 function poises naïve Treg cells to adopt a CD28-activated phenotype.
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Silveria S, DuPage M. Separating the Good from the Bad: Tumor-Infiltrating Tregs Have Increased Fucosylation. Cancer Immunol Res 2023; 11:1570. [PMID: 37966514 DOI: 10.1158/2326-6066.cir-23-0857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Regulatory T cells (Treg) can suppress antitumor immune responses, and their presence in tumors is associated with worse prognoses in most cancers. Strategies to neutralize Treg-mediated suppression in tumors without immune-related adverse events, however, are challenging due to the essential role of Tregs in maintaining immune homeostasis. In this issue, Pinioti and colleagues identify fucosylation as a critical regulator of Treg function in tumors that can be targeted therapeutically without impacting immune homeostasis. See related article by Pinioti et al., p. 1611 (3) .
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Silveria
- Division of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California
| | - Michel DuPage
- Division of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California
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Spangler JB, Trotta E, Tomala J, Peck A, Young TA, Savvides CS, Silveria S, Votavova P, Salafsky J, Pande VS, Kovar M, Bluestone JA, Garcia KC. Engineering a Single-Agent Cytokine/Antibody Fusion That Selectively Expands Regulatory T Cells for Autoimmune Disease Therapy. J Immunol 2018; 201:2094-2106. [PMID: 30104245 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1800578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2018] [Accepted: 07/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
IL-2 has been used to treat diseases ranging from cancer to autoimmune disorders, but its concurrent immunostimulatory and immunosuppressive effects hinder efficacy. IL-2 orchestrates immune cell function through activation of a high-affinity heterotrimeric receptor (composed of IL-2Rα, IL-2Rβ, and common γ [γc]). IL-2Rα, which is highly expressed on regulatory T (TReg) cells, regulates IL-2 sensitivity. Previous studies have shown that complexation of IL-2 with the JES6-1 Ab preferentially biases cytokine activity toward TReg cells through a unique mechanism whereby IL-2 is exchanged from the Ab to IL-2Rα. However, clinical adoption of a mixed Ab/cytokine complex regimen is limited by stoichiometry and stability concerns. In this study, through structure-guided design, we engineered a single agent fusion of the IL-2 cytokine and JES6-1 Ab that, despite being covalently linked, preserves IL-2 exchange, selectively stimulating TReg expansion and exhibiting superior disease control to the mixed IL-2/JES6-1 complex in a mouse colitis model. These studies provide an engineering blueprint for resolving a major barrier to the implementation of functionally similar IL-2/Ab complexes for treatment of human disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamie B Spangler
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305.,Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305.,Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
| | - Eleonora Trotta
- Diabetes Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143
| | - Jakub Tomala
- Laboratory of Tumor Immunology, Institute of Microbiology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 14220 Prague 4-Krc, Czech Republic
| | - Ariana Peck
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
| | | | | | - Stephanie Silveria
- Diabetes Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143
| | - Petra Votavova
- Laboratory of Tumor Immunology, Institute of Microbiology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 14220 Prague 4-Krc, Czech Republic
| | | | - Vijay S Pande
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; and
| | - Marek Kovar
- Laboratory of Tumor Immunology, Institute of Microbiology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 14220 Prague 4-Krc, Czech Republic
| | - Jeffrey A Bluestone
- Diabetes Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143.,Sean N. Parker Autoimmune Research Laboratory, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143
| | - K Christopher Garcia
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305; .,Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305.,Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
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DuPage M, Wang D, Quiros J, Mahuron K, Pai CC, Ranzani V, Young A, Silveria S, Harwin T, Abnousian A, Pagani M, Rosenblum M, Van Gool F, Fong L, Bluestone JA. Targeting EZH2 Selectively Alters Intratumoral Regulatory T Cells to Enhance Cancer Immunity. The Journal of Immunology 2018. [DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.200.supp.57.39] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (Tregs) are critical for maintaining immune homeostasis, but their presence in tumor tissues impairs anti-tumor immunity and portends poor prognoses in cancer patients. Targeting Tregs may be a powerful means to unleash more potent immune responses against cancer, but targeting these cells is challenging because their generalized inactivation may incite severe autoimmune toxicities. To selectively target Tregs in tumors, we investigated the role of the H3K27 methyltransferase EZH2 in Tregs and determined that its enhanced activity at tumor sites in mice and humans leads to more robust and stable Tregs. We demonstrate that blocking EZH2 activity, both pharmacologically and genetically, selectively reprograms the function of tumor-infiltrating Tregs without systemically altering Treg function. Genetic disruption of EZH2 in tumor-resident Tregs led to their acquisition of pro-inflammatory functions that remodeled the tumor microenvironment and enhanced the recruitment and function of effector T cells, leading to the complete elimination of tumors. Moreover, abolishing EZH2 function in Tregs was mechanistically distinct from, more potent than, and less toxic than a generalized Treg depletion approach. This study reveals a novel strategy to target Tregs in cancer that mitigates autoimmunity by reprogramming their function in tumors to enhance anti-cancer immunity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel DuPage
- 1Univ. of California, Berkeley
- 2Univ. of California, San Francisco
| | | | | | | | | | - Valeria Ranzani
- 3Istituto Nazionale Genetica Molecolare INGM
- 4’Romeo ed Enrica Invernizzi’, Italy, Italy
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Clark AG, Silveria S, Meyers W, Langley CH. Nature screen: an efficient method for screening natural populations of Drosophila for targeted P-element insertions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1994; 91:719-22. [PMID: 8290588 PMCID: PMC43020 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.91.2.719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The efficiency of molecular techniques is making it increasingly necessary to rely on reverse genetics to understand the function of genes. Tissue-specific libraries allow one to identify numerous genes that can be cloned, sequenced, and mapped and whose temporal and tissue-specific pattern of expression are well characterized but whose function remains unknown. In such cases, it is desirable to generate targeted mutations to examine the phenotype of loss-of-function lesions. Here we describe a method for identifying naturally occurring variants of Drosophila melanogaster with specific genes tagged by a nearby P element. Imprecise P-element excision can then be used to generate a series of small deletions in or near the gene. In the method described here, large numbers of wild-caught males were crossed to balancer females, and inserts were identified in pooled samples by the polymerase chain reaction with one primer from each target gene and one primer from the P-element terminal repeat. We present the calculations for the probability of successfully tagging a gene and show that it is greatly improved by simultaneously screening inserts into several genes. If a large natural population is available, a nature screen is faster and easier than inducing P-element transposition in the laboratory, but the resulting lines, being genetically heterogeneous, may require more subsequent work to isolate. Using this method to screen the genomes of approximately 10,400 males, we found P-element inserts in close proximity to 3 of 10 genes that were screened.
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Affiliation(s)
- A G Clark
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802
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