Small molecule inhibitor against onco-mucins disrupts Src/FosL1 axis to enhance gemcitabine efficacy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Advancing Cholangiocarcinoma Care: Insights and Innovations in T Cell Therapy

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a rare and aggressive malignancy originating from the bile ducts, with poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Traditional therapies, such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, have shown limited efficacy, especially in advanced cases. Recent advancements in immunotherapy, particularly T cell-based therapies like chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cells, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and T cell receptor (TCR)-based therapies, have opened new avenues for improving outcomes in CCA. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of T cell therapies for CCA, focusing on CAR T cell therapy. It highlights key challenges, including the complex tumor microenvironment and immune evasion mechanisms, and the progress made in preclinical and clinical trials. The review also discusses ongoing clinical trials targeting specific CCA antigens, such as MUC1, EGFR, and CD133, and the evolving role of precision immunotherapy in enhancing treatment outcomes. Despite significant progress, further research is needed to optimize these therapies for solid tumors like CCA. By summarizing the most recent clinical results and future directions, this review underscores the promising potential of T cell therapies in revolutionizing CCA treatment.

Secretory Trefoil Factor 1 (TFF1) promotes gemcitabine resistance through chemokine receptor CXCR4 in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Gemcitabine is the first-line treatment option for patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, the frequent adoption of resistance to gemcitabine by cancer cells poses a significant challenge in treating this aggressive disease. In this study, we focused on analyzing the role of trefoil factor 1 (TFF1) in gemcitabine resistance in PDAC. Analysis of PDAC TCGA and cell line datasets indicated an enrichment of TFF1 in the gemcitabine-resistant classical subtype and suggested an inverse correlation between TFF1 expression and sensitivity to gemcitabine treatment. The genetic ablation of TFF1 in PDAC cells enhanced their sensitivity to gemcitabine treatment in both in vitro and in vivo tumor xenografts. The biochemical studies revealed that TFF1 contributes to gemcitabine resistance through enhanced stemness, increasing migration ability of cancer cells, and induction of anti-apoptotic genes. We further pursued studies to predict possible receptors exerting TFF1-mediated gemcitabine resistance. Protein-protein docking investigations with BioLuminate software revealed that TFF1 binds to the chemokine receptor CXCR4, which was supported by real-time binding analysis of TFF1 and CXCR4 using SPR studies. The exogenous addition of TFF1 increased the proliferation and migration of PDAC cells through the pAkt/pERK axis, which was abrogated by treatment with a CXCR4-specific antagonist AMD3100. Overall, the present study demonstrates the contribution of the TFF1-CXCR4 axis in imparting gemcitabine resistance properties to PDAC cells.

FOSL1's Oncogene Roles in Glioma/Glioma Stem Cells and Tumorigenesis: A Comprehensive Review

This review specifically examines the important function of the oncoprotein FOSL1 in the dimeric AP-1 transcription factor, which consists of FOS-related components. FOSL1 is identified as a crucial controller of invasion and metastatic dissemination, making it a potential target for therapeutic treatment in cancer patients. The review offers a thorough examination of the regulatory systems that govern the influence exerted on FOSL1. These include a range of changes that occur throughout the process of transcription and after the translation of proteins. We have discovered that several non-coding RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), play a significant role in regulating FOSL1 expression by directly interacting with its mRNA transcripts. Moreover, an investigation into the functional aspects of FOSL1 reveals its involvement in apoptosis, proliferation, and migration. This work involves a comprehensive analysis of the complex signaling pathways that support these diverse activities. Furthermore, particular importance is given to the function of FOSL1 in coordinating the activation of several cytokines, such as TGF-beta, and the commencement of IL-6 and VEGF production in tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) that migrate into the tumor microenvironment. There is a specific emphasis on evaluating the predictive consequences linked to FOSL1. Insights are now emerging on the developing roles of FOSL1 in relation to the processes that drive resistance and reliance on specific treatment methods. Targeting FOSL1 has a strong inhibitory effect on the formation and spread of specific types of cancers. Despite extensive endeavors, no drugs targeting AP-1 or FOSL1 for cancer treatment have been approved for clinical use. Hence, it is imperative to implement innovative approaches and conduct additional verifications.

Connectivity mapping-based identification of pharmacological inhibitor targeting HDAC6 in aggressive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains highly lethal due to limited therapeutic options and expensive/burdensome drug discovery processes. Utilizing genomic-data-driven Connectivity Mapping (CMAP) to identify a drug closer to real-world PC targeting may improve pancreatic cancer (PC) patient outcomes. Initially, we mapped CMAP data to gene expression from 106 PC patients, identifying nine negatively connected drugs. These drugs were further narrowed down using a similar analysis for PC cell lines, human tumoroids, and patient-derived xenografts datasets, where ISOX emerged as the most potent agent to target PC. We used human and mouse syngeneic PC cells, human and mouse tumoroids, and in vivo mice to assess the ability of ISOX alone and in combination with 5FU to inhibit tumor growth. Global transcriptomic and pathway analysis of the ISOX-LINCS signature identified HDAC 6/cMyc as the target axis for ISOX. Specifically, we discovered that genetic and pharmacological targeting of HDAC 6 affected non-histone protein cMyc acetylation, leading to cMyc instability, thereby disrupting PC growth and metastasis by affecting cancer stemness. Finally, KrasG12D harboring tumoroids and mice responded effectively against ISOX and 5FU treatment by enhancing survival and controlling metastasis incidence. Overall, our data validate ISOX as a new drug to treat advanced PC patients without toxicity to normal cells. Our study supports the clinical utility of ISOX along with 5FU in future PC clinical trials.

A novel role of TGFBI in macrophage polarization and macrophage-induced pancreatic cancer growth and therapeutic resistance

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), as a major and essential component of tumor microenvironment (TME), play a critical role in orchestrating pancreatic cancer (PaC) tumorigenesis from initiation to angiogenesis, growth, and systemic dissemination, as well as immunosuppression and resistance to chemotherapy and immunotherapy; however, the critical intrinsic factors responsible for TAMs reprograming and function remain to be identified. By performing single-cell RNA sequencing, transforming growth factor-beta-induced protein (TGFBI) was identified as TAM-producing factor in murine PaC tumors. TAMs express TGFBI in human PaC and TGFBI expression is positively related with human PaC growth. By inducing TGFBI loss-of-function in macrophage (MΦs) in vitro with siRNA and in vivo with Cre-Lox strategy in our developed TGFBI-floxed mice, we demonstrated disruption of TGFBI not only inhibited MΦ polarization to M2 phenotype and MΦ-mediated stimulation on PaC growth, but also significantly improved anti-tumor immunity, sensitizing PaC to chemotherapy in association with regulation of fibronectin 1, Cxcl10, and Ccl5. Our studies suggest that targeting TGFBI in MΦ can develop an effective therapeutic intervention for highly lethal PaC.

Chimeric antibody targeting unique epitope on onco-mucin16 reduces tumor burden in pancreatic and lung malignancies

Aberrantly expressed onco-mucin 16 (MUC16) and its post-cleavage generated surface tethered carboxy-terminal (MUC16-Cter) domain are strongly associated with poor prognosis and lethality of pancreatic (PC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). To date, most anti-MUC16 antibodies are directed towards the extracellular domain of MUC16 (CA125), which is usually cleaved and shed in the circulation hence obscuring antibody accessibility to the cancer cells. Herein, we establish the utility of targeting a post-cleavage generated, surface-tethered oncogenic MUC16 carboxy-terminal (MUC16-Cter) domain by using a novel chimeric antibody in human IgG1 format, ch5E6, whose epitope expression directly correlates with disease severity in both cancers. ch5E6 binds and interferes with MUC16-associated oncogenesis, suppresses the downstream signaling pFAK(Y397)/p-p70S6K(T389)/N-cadherin axis and exert antiproliferative effects in cancer cells, 3D organoids, and tumor xenografts of both PC and NSCLC. The robust clinical correlations observed between MUC16 and N-cadherin in patient tumors and metastatic samples imply ch5E6 potential in targeting a complex and significantly occurring phenomenon of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) associated with disease aggressiveness. Our study supports evaluating ch5E6 with standard-of-care drugs, to potentially augment treatment outcomes in malignancies inflicted with MUC16-associated poor prognosis.