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Halaby MJ, Hezaveh K, Lamorte S, Ciudad MT, Kloetgen A, MacLeod BL, Guo M, Chakravarthy A, Medina TDS, Ugel S, Tsirigos A, Bronte V, Munn DH, Pugh TJ, De Carvalho DD, Butler MO, Ohashi PS, Brooks DG, McGaha TL. GCN2 drives macrophage and MDSC function and immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment. Sci Immunol 2020; 4:4/42/eaax8189. [PMID: 31836669 DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aax8189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2019] [Accepted: 11/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
General control nonderepressible 2 (GCN2) is an environmental sensor controlling transcription and translation in response to nutrient availability. Although GCN2 is a putative therapeutic target for immuno-oncology, its role in shaping the immune response to tumors is poorly understood. Here, we used mass cytometry, transcriptomics, and transcription factor-binding analysis to determine the functional impact of GCN2 on the myeloid phenotype and immune responses in melanoma. We found that myeloid-lineage deletion of GCN2 drives a shift in the phenotype of tumor-associated macrophages and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) that promotes antitumor immunity. Time-of-flight mass cytometry (CyTOF) and single-cell RNA sequencing showed that this was due to changes in the immune microenvironment with increased proinflammatory activation of macrophages and MDSCs and interferon-γ expression in intratumoral CD8+ T cells. Mechanistically, GCN2 altered myeloid function by promoting increased translation of the transcription factor CREB-2/ATF4, which was required for maturation and polarization of macrophages and MDSCs in both mice and humans, whereas targeting Atf4 by small interfering RNA knockdown reduced tumor growth. Last, analysis of patients with cutaneous melanoma showed that GCN2-dependent transcriptional signatures correlated with macrophage polarization, T cell infiltrates, and overall survival. Thus, these data reveal a previously unknown dependence of tumors on myeloid GCN2 signals for protection from immune attack.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Jo Halaby
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Kebria Hezaveh
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Sara Lamorte
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - M Teresa Ciudad
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Andreas Kloetgen
- Department of Pathology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Bethany L MacLeod
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Mengdi Guo
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Ankur Chakravarthy
- Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | | | - Stefano Ugel
- Department of Medicine, Immunology Section, Verona University Hospital, Verona, Italy
| | - Aristotelis Tsirigos
- Department of Pathology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.,Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.,Applied Bioinformatics Laboratories, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Vincenzo Bronte
- Department of Medicine, Immunology Section, Verona University Hospital, Verona, Italy
| | - David H Munn
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, USA.,Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta, GA, USA
| | - Trevor J Pugh
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Daniel D De Carvalho
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Marcus O Butler
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Pamela S Ohashi
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - David G Brooks
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Tracy L McGaha
- Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada. .,Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
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