Caloric Restriction Impairs Regulatory T cells Within the Tumor Microenvironment After Radiation and Primes Effector T cells

Outcomes for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) are poor and may be improved by increasing CD8+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) to augment antitumor immunity. Radiation (RT) can promote immunogenic cell death with increased antitumor T cell activity but also stimulates suppressive regulatory T cells (Tregs). Because metabolic alterations affect immune homeostasis and prior studies show caloric restriction (CR) combined with RT improves preclinical TNBC outcomes, we hypothesized that CR augments RT, in part, by altering intratumoral immunity. Using an in vivo model of TNBC, we treated mice with ad libitum (AL) diet, radiation, a CR diet, or CR + RT, and demonstrated an immune suppressive environment with a significant increase in CD4+ CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs after RT but not in CR-fed mice. CD8:Treg ratio in CR + RT TIL increased 4-fold compared with AL + RT mice. In vivo CD8 depletion was performed to assess the role of effector T cells in mitigating the effects of CR, and it was found that in mice undergoing CR, depletion of CD8 T cells resulted in increased tumor progression and decreased median survival compared with isotype control-treated mice. In addition, PD-1 expression on CD3+CD8+ T cells within the tumor microenvironment was significantly increased in CR + RT versus AL + RT treated mice as per immunofluorescence. Serum from breast cancer patients undergoing RT alone or CR and RT was collected pre- and postintervention, and a cytokine array demonstrated that patients treated with CR + RT had notable decreases in immunosuppressive cytokines such as IL-2Rγ, IL-10Rβ, and TGF-β2 and 3 compared with patients receiving RT alone. In conclusion, combining CR with RT decreases intratumoral Tregs, increases CD8:Treg, and increases PD-1 expression via a process dependent on CD8 T cells in a TNBC model. Breast cancer patients undergoing CR concurrently with RT also had significant reduction in immunosuppressive cytokine levels compared with those receiving RT alone.

Increased Stromal Infiltrating Lymphocytes Are Associated with the Risk of Disease Progression in Mesenchymal Circulating Tumor Cell-Positive Primary Breast Cancer Patients

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and the immune infiltration of tumors are closely related to clinical outcomes. This study aimed to verify the influence of stromal lymphocyte infiltration and the immune context of tumor microenvironment on the hematogenous spread and prognosis of 282 chemotherapy naïve primary BC patients. To detect the presence of mesenchymal CTCs, RNA extracted from CD45-depleted peripheral blood was interrogated for the expression of mesenchymal gene transcripts. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were detected in the stromal areas by immunohistochemistry, using CD3, CD8, and CD45RO antibodies. The concentrations of 51 plasma cytokines were measured by multiplex bead arrays. TILs infiltration in mesenchymal CTC-positive patients significantly decreased their progression-free survival (HR = 4.88, 95% CI 2.30–10.37, p < 0.001 for CD3^high; HR = 6.17, 95% CI 2.75–13.80, p < 0.001 for CD8^high; HR = 6.93, 95% CI 2.86–16.81, p < 0.001 for CD45RO^high). Moreover, the combination of elevated plasma concentrations of transforming growth factor beta-3 (cut-off 662 pg/mL), decreased monocyte chemotactic protein-3 (cut-off 52.5 pg/mL) and interleukin-15 (cut-off 17.1 pg/mL) significantly increased the risk of disease recurrence (HR = 4.838, 95% CI 2.048–11.427, p < 0.001). Our results suggest a strong impact of the immune tumor microenvironment on BC progression, especially through influencing the dissemination and survival of more aggressive, mesenchymal CTC subtypes.

Maternal plasma angiogenic and inflammatory factor profiling in foetal Down syndrome

Objective and design

Angiogenic factors are proteins that are related to certain foetal chromosomal abnormalities. The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of 60 angiogenic factors in the plasma of women with offspring possessing trisomy 21/Down syndrome (DS).

Method

After analysing karyotyping results, we selected 20 patients with foetuses possessing DS, and for the control group, we selected 28 healthy patients with uncomplicated pregnancies who delivered healthy newborns at term (i.e., 15–18 weeks of gestation). To assess the concentration of proteins in the blood plasma, we used a protein macroarray which enabled simultaneous determination of 60 angiogenic factors per sample.

Results

We observed a statistically significant increase in the concentration of these five angiogenic and inflammatory factors: TGFb1 (p = 0.039), angiostatin (p = 0.0142), I-309 (p = 0.0476), TGFb3 (p = 0.0395), and VEGF-D (p = 0.0173)—compared to concentrations in patients with healthy foetuses.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that angiogenic factors may play role in DS pathogenesis.

Transforming growth factor-beta in the brain enhances fat oxidation via noradrenergic neurons in the ventromedial and paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus

We have previously reported that intracisternal administration of TGF-beta induces an increase in fat oxidation and that intracisternal administration of anti-TGF-beta antibody partially inhibits an increase in fat oxidation during treadmill running in rats. These results indicate a regulatory role of that TGF-beta in the brain on fat oxidation during exercise. However, it is not clear how TGF-beta in the brain enhance fat oxidation. We hypothesized that TGF-beta in the brain elicits its regulatory effects on fat oxidation via hypothalamic noradrenergic neurons, because some reports have demonstrated the important role of hypothalamic noradrenergic neurons in the regulation of fat oxidation during and after exercise. To examine this hypothesis, we measured the extracellular noradrenaline (NA) levels in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVH), ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH) and lateral hypothalamic area, which are especially important in the regulation of energy metabolism, after intracisternal administration of TGF-beta by using an in vivo brain microdialysis. Microdialysis study revealed that intracisternal administration of TGF-beta3 caused increases in the NA levels in the PVH and VMH. Then, we investigated the impact of impairment of noradrenergic neurons in the PVH and VMH by neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine microinjection (NA-lesion) on the action of intracisternal administration of TGF-beta. The NA lesion completely abolished the regulatory effect of TGF-beta on fat oxidation. These results suggest that TGF-beta in the brain enhances fat oxidation via noradrenergic neurons in the PVH and VMH.

Testosterone treatment promotes tubular damage in experimental diabetes in prepubertal rats

Puberty unmasks or accelerates progressive kidney diseases, including diabetes mellitus (DM), perhaps through effects of sex steroids. To test the hypothesis that rising androgen levels at puberty permit diabetic kidney damage, we studied four groups of male rats with and without streptozocin-induced DM: adult onset (A), adult onset after castration (AC), juvenile onset (J), and juvenile onset with testosterone treatment (JT). Profibrotic markers were measured after 6 wk with blood glucose levels 300-450 mg/dl. JT permitted increased expression of mRNA for two isoforms of transforming growth factor-beta and connective tissue growth factor compared with J animals with DM; prior castration did not provide protection in adult-onset DM. JT also permitted greater tubular staining for alpha-smooth muscle actin and fibroblast-specific protein, two markers of cell damage and potential epithelial mesenchymal transition. Once again, castration was not protective for these effects of DM in the AC group. These data indicate that puberty permits detrimental effects in the tubulointerstitium in the diabetic kidney, an effect mimicked by testosterone treatment of juvenile animals and partially blunted by castration of adults, but damage does not correlate with testosterone levels, suggesting a less direct mechanism.