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Sharma MD, Shinde R, McGaha TL, Huang L, Holmgaard RB, Wolchok JD, Mautino MR, Celis E, Sharpe AH, Francisco LM, Powell JD, Yagita H, Mellor AL, Blazar BR, Munn DH. The PTEN pathway in Tregs is a critical driver of the suppressive tumor microenvironment. Sci Adv 2015; 1:e1500845. [PMID: 26601142 PMCID: PMC4640592 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1500845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 135] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2015] [Accepted: 08/14/2015] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
The tumor microenvironment is profoundly immunosuppressive. We show that multiple tumor types create intratumoral immune suppression driven by a specialized form of regulatory T cell (Treg) activation dependent on the PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog) lipid phosphatase. PTEN acted to stabilize Tregs in tumors, preventing them from reprogramming into inflammatory effector cells. In mice with a Treg-specific deletion of PTEN, tumors grew slowly, were inflamed, and could not create an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. In normal mice, exposure to apoptotic tumor cells rapidly elicited PTEN-expressing Tregs, and PTEN-deficient mice were unable to maintain tolerance to apoptotic cells. In wild-type mice with large established tumors, pharmacologic inhibition of PTEN after chemotherapy or immunotherapy profoundly reconfigured the tumor microenvironment, changing it from a suppressive to an inflammatory milieu, and tumors underwent rapid regression. Thus, the immunosuppressive milieu in tumors must be actively maintained, and tumors become susceptible to immune attack if the PTEN pathway in Tregs is disrupted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madhav D. Sharma
- Cancer Center, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
| | - Rahul Shinde
- Cancer Center, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
| | - Tracy L. McGaha
- Cancer Center, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
- Department of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
| | - Lei Huang
- Cancer Center, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
- Department of Radiology, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
| | - Rikke B. Holmgaard
- Department of Medicine, Immunology Program and Ludwig Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Weill Cornell Medical School and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Jedd D. Wolchok
- Department of Medicine, Immunology Program and Ludwig Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Weill Cornell Medical School and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | | | - Esteban Celis
- Cancer Center, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
- Department of Biochemistry, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
| | - Arlene H. Sharpe
- Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Loise M. Francisco
- Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Jonathan D. Powell
- Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Research Center, Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA
| | - Hideo Yagita
- Department of Immunology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan
| | - Andrew L. Mellor
- Cancer Center, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
- Department of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
| | - Bruce R. Blazar
- Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - David H. Munn
- Cancer Center, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
- Corresponding author. E-mail:
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