1
|
Qin A, Qin Y, Lee J, Musket A, Ying M, Krenciute G, Marincola FM, Yao ZQ, Musich PR, Xie Q. Tyrosine kinase signaling-independent MET-targeting with CAR-T cells. J Transl Med 2023; 21:682. [PMID: 37779207 PMCID: PMC10544186 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-023-04521-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 09/11/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent progress in cancer immunotherapy encourages the expansion of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy in solid tumors including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Overexpression of MET receptor tyrosine kinase is common in HCC; however, MET inhibitors are effective only when MET is in an active form, making patient stratification difficult. Specific MET-targeting CAR-T cells hold the promise of targeting HCC with MET overexpression regardless of signaling pathway activity. METHODS MET-specific CARs with CD28ζ or 4-1BBζ as co-stimulation domains were constructed. MET-CAR-T cells derived from healthy subjects (HS) and HCC patients were evaluated for their killing activity and cytokine release against HCC cells with various MET activations in vitro, and for their tumor growth inhibition in orthotopic xenograft models in vivo. RESULTS MET-CAR.CD28ζ and MET-CAR.4-1BBζ T cells derived from both HS and HCC patients specifically killed MET-positive HCC cells. When stimulated with MET-positive HCC cells in vitro, MET-CAR.CD28ζ T cells demonstrated a higher level of cytokine release and expression of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) than MET-CAR.4-1BBζ T cells. When analyzed in vivo, MET-CAR.CD28ζ T cells more effectively inhibited HCC orthotopic tumor growth in mice when compared to MET-CAR.4-1BBζ T cells. CONCLUSION We generated and characterized MET-specific CAR-T cells for targeting HCC with MET overexpression regardless of MET activation. Compared with MET-CAR.4-1BBζ, MET-CAR.CD28ζ T cells showed a higher anti-HCC potency but also a higher level of T cell exhaustion. While MET-CAR.CD28ζ is preferred for further development, overcoming the exhaustion of MET-CAR-T cells is necessary to improve their therapeutic efficacy in vivo.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Qin
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
| | - Yuan Qin
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
| | - Joseph Lee
- Department of Surgery, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
| | - Anna Musket
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
| | - Mingyao Ying
- Department of Neurology, Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Giedre Krenciute
- Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, 38105, USA
| | | | - Zhi Q Yao
- Department of Internal Medicine, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
- Center of Excellence for Inflammation, Infectious Disease and Immunity, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
| | - Phillip R Musich
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
| | - Qian Xie
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA.
- Center of Excellence for Inflammation, Infectious Disease and Immunity, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Qin Y, Musket A, Kou J, Preiszner J, Tschida BR, Qin A, Land CA, Staal B, Kang L, Tanner K, Jiang Y, Schweitzer JB, Largaespada DA, Xie Q. Overexpression of HGF/MET axis along with p53 inhibition induces de novo glioma formation in mice. Neurooncol Adv 2020; 2:vdaa067. [PMID: 32642717 PMCID: PMC7332240 DOI: 10.1093/noajnl/vdaa067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Aberrant MET receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) activation leads to invasive tumor growth in different types of cancer. Overexpression of MET and its ligand hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) occurs more frequently in glioblastoma (GBM) than in low-grade gliomas. Although we have shown previously that HGF-autocrine activation predicts sensitivity to MET tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in GBM, whether it initiates tumorigenesis remains elusive. Methods Using a well-established Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon strategy, we injected human HGF and MET cDNA together with a short hairpin siRNA against Trp53 (SB-hHgf.Met.ShP53) into the lateral ventricle of neonatal mice to induce spontaneous glioma initiation and characterized the tumors with H&E and immunohistochemistry analysis. Glioma sphere cells also were isolated for measuring the sensitivity to specific MET TKIs. Results Mixed injection of SB-hHgf.Met.ShP53 plasmids induced de novo glioma formation with invasive tumor growth accompanied by HGF and MET overexpression. While glioma stem cells (GSCs) are considered as the tumor-initiating cells in GBM, both SB-hHgf.Met.ShP53 tumor sections and glioma spheres harvested from these tumors expressed GSC markers nestin, GFAP, and Sox 2. Moreover, specific MET TKIs significantly inhibited tumor spheres' proliferation and MET/MAPK/AKT signaling. Conclusions Overexpression of the HGF/MET axis along with p53 attenuation may transform neural stem cells into GSCs, resulting in GBM formation in mice. These tumors are primarily driven by the MET RTK pathway activation and are sensitive to MET TKIs. The SB-hHgf.Met.ShP53 spontaneous mouse glioma model provides a useful tool for studying GBM tumor biology and MET-targeting therapeutics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Qin
- Department of Biomedical Science, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
| | - Anna Musket
- Department of Biomedical Science, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
| | - Jianqun Kou
- Department of Biomedical Science, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
| | - Johanna Preiszner
- Department of Pathology, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
| | - Barbara R Tschida
- Department of Pediatrics, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Anna Qin
- Department of Biomedical Science, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
| | - Craig A Land
- Department of Biomedical Science, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
| | - Ben Staal
- Center for Cancer and Cell Biology, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
| | - Liang Kang
- Center for Cancer and Cell Biology, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
| | - Kirk Tanner
- National Brain Tumor Society, Newton, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Yong Jiang
- Department of Biomedical Science, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
| | - John B Schweitzer
- Department of Pathology, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
| | - David A Largaespada
- Department of Pediatrics, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Qian Xie
- Department of Biomedical Science, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Moosavi F, Giovannetti E, Saso L, Firuzi O. HGF/MET pathway aberrations as diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers in human cancers. Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci 2019; 56:533-566. [PMID: 31512514 DOI: 10.1080/10408363.2019.1653821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 106] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Cancer is a major cause of death worldwide. MET tyrosine kinase receptor [MET, c-MET, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) receptor] pathway activation is associated with the appearance of several hallmarks of cancer. The HGF/MET pathway has emerged as an important actionable target across many solid tumors; therefore, biomarker discovery becomes essential in order to guide clinical intervention and patient stratification with the aim of moving towards personalized medicine. The focus of this review is on how the aberrant activation of the HGF/MET pathway in tumor tissue or the circulation can provide diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and predictive biomarkers of drug response. Many meta-analyses have shown that aberrant activation of the MET pathway in tumor tissue, including MET gene overexpression, gene amplification, exon 14 skipping and other activating mutations, is almost invariably associated with shorter survival and poor prognosis. Most meta-analyses have been performed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), breast, head and neck cancers as well as colorectal, gastric, pancreatic and other gastrointestinal cancers. Furthermore, several studies have shown the predictive value of MET biomarkers in the identification of patients who gain the most benefit from HGF/MET targeted therapies administered as single or combination therapies. The highest predictive values have been observed for response to foretinib and savolitinib in renal cancer, as well as tivantinib in NSCLC and colorectal cancer. However, some studies, especially those based on MET expression, have failed to show much value in these stratifications. This may be rooted in lack of standardization of methodologies, in particular in scoring systems applied in immunohistochemistry determinations or absence of oncogenic addiction of cancer cells to the MET pathway, despite detection of overexpression. Measurements of amplification and mutation aberrations are less likely to suffer from these pitfalls. Increased levels of MET soluble ectodomain (sMET) in circulation have also been associated with poor prognosis; however, the evidence is not as strong as it is with tissue-based biomarkers. As a diagnostic biomarker, sMET has shown its value in distinguishing cancer patients from healthy individuals in prostate and bladder cancers and in melanoma. On the other hand, increased circulating HGF has also been presented as a valuable prognostic and diagnostic biomarker in many cancers; however, there is controversy on the predictive value of HGF as a biomarker. Other biomarkers such as circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and tumor HGF levels have also been briefly covered. In conclusion, HGF/MET aberrations can provide valuable diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers and represent vital assets for personalized cancer therapy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fatemeh Moosavi
- Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences , Shiraz , Iran
| | - Elisa Giovannetti
- Department of Medical Oncology, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, VU University Medical Center (VUmc) , Amsterdam , The Netherlands.,Cancer Pharmacology Lab, AIRC Start Up Unit, Fondazione Pisana per la Scienza Onlus , Pisa , Italy
| | - Luciano Saso
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, "Vittorio Erspamer," Sapienza University , Rome , Italy
| | - Omidreza Firuzi
- Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences , Shiraz , Iran
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Balasubramanian PK, Balupuri A, Bhujbal SP, Cho SJ. 3D-QSAR-aided design of potent c-Met inhibitors using molecular dynamics simulation and binding free energy calculation. J Biomol Struct Dyn 2018; 37:2165-2178. [PMID: 30044205 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2018.1479309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (c-Met) is a member of receptor tyrosine kinase. It involves in various cellular signaling pathways which includes proliferation, motility, migration, and invasion. Over-expression of c-Met has been reported in various cancers. Hence, it is an ideal therapeutic target for cancer. The main objective of the study is to identify crucial residues involved in the inhibition of c-Met kinase and to design a series of potent imidazo [4,5-b] pyrazine derivatives as c-Met inhibitors. Docking was used to identify important active site residues involved in the inhibition of c-Met kinase which was further validated by 100 ns of molecular dynamics simulation and free energy calculation using molecular mechanics generalized born surface area. Furthermore, binding energy decomposition identified that residues Tyr1230, Met1211, Asp1222, Tyr1159, Met1160, Val1092, Ala1108, and Leu1157 contributed favorably to the binding stability of compound 32. Receptor-guided Comparative Molecular Field Analysis (CoMFA) (q2 = 0.751, NOC = 6, r2 = 0.933) and Comparative Molecular Similarity Indices Analysis (COMSIA) (q2 = 0.744, NOC = 6, r2 = 0.950) models were generated based on the docked conformation of the most active compound 32. The robustness of these models was tested using various validation techniques and found to be predictive. The results of CoMFA and CoMSIA contour maps exposed the regions favorable to enhance the activity. Based on this information, 27 novel c-Met inhibitors were designed. These designed compounds exhibited potent activity than the most active compound of the existing dataset. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pavithra K Balasubramanian
- a Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine , Chosun University , Gwangju 501-759 , Republic of Korea
| | - Anand Balupuri
- a Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine , Chosun University , Gwangju 501-759 , Republic of Korea
| | - Swapnil P Bhujbal
- a Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine , Chosun University , Gwangju 501-759 , Republic of Korea
| | - Seung Joo Cho
- a Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine , Chosun University , Gwangju 501-759 , Republic of Korea.,b Department of Cellular·Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine , Chosun University , Gwangju 501-759 , Republic of Korea
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Kou J, Musich PR, Staal B, Kang L, Qin Y, Yao ZQ, Zhang B, Wu W, Tam A, Huang A, Hao HX, Vande Woude GF, Xie Q. Differential responses of MET activations to MET kinase inhibitor and neutralizing antibody. J Transl Med 2018; 16:253. [PMID: 30208970 PMCID: PMC6134500 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-018-1628-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2018] [Accepted: 09/05/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Aberrant MET tyrosine kinase signaling is known to cause cancer initiation and progression. While MET inhibitors are in clinical trials against several cancer types, the clinical efficacies are controversial and the molecular mechanisms toward sensitivity remain elusive. METHODS With the goal to investigate the molecular basis of MET amplification (METamp) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) autocrine-driven tumors in response to MET tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) and neutralizing antibodies, we compared cancer cells harboring METamp (MKN45 and MHCCH97H) or HGF-autocrine (JHH5 and U87) for their sensitivity and downstream biological responses to a MET-TKI (INC280) and an anti-MET monoclonal antibody (MetMab) in vitro, and for tumor inhibition in vivo. RESULTS We find that cancer cells driven by METamp are more sensitive to INC280 than are those driven by HGF-autocrine activation. In METamp cells, INC280 induced a DNA damage response with activation of repair through the p53BP1/ATM signaling pathway. Although MetMab failed to inhibit METamp cell proliferation and tumor growth, both INC280 and MetMab reduced HGF-autocrine tumor growth. In addition, we also show that HGF stimulation promoted human HUVEC cell tube formation via the Src pathway, which was inhibited by either INC280 or MetMab. These observations suggest that in HGF-autocrine tumors, the endothelial cells are the secondary targets MET inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate that METamp and HGF-autocrine activation favor different molecular mechanisms. While combining MET TKIs and ATM inhibitors may enhance the efficacy for treating tumors harboring METamp, a combined inhibition of MET and angiogenesis pathways may improve the therapeutic efficacy against HGF-autocrine tumors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jianqun Kou
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA.,Center of Excellence for Inflammation, Infectious Disease and Immunity, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
| | - Phillip R Musich
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
| | - Ben Staal
- Center of Cell and Cancer Biology, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, USA
| | - Liang Kang
- Center of Cell and Cancer Biology, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, USA
| | - Yuan Qin
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA.,Center of Excellence for Inflammation, Infectious Disease and Immunity, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
| | - Zhi Q Yao
- Center of Excellence for Inflammation, Infectious Disease and Immunity, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA.,Department of Internal Medicine, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
| | - Boheng Zhang
- Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Weizhong Wu
- Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Angela Tam
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Alan Huang
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Huai-Xiang Hao
- Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - George F Vande Woude
- Center of Cell and Cancer Biology, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503, USA
| | - Qian Xie
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA. .,Center of Excellence for Inflammation, Infectious Disease and Immunity, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA.
| |
Collapse
|