The role of endoplasmic reticulum stress in the MHC class I antigen presentation pathway of dendritic cells

Targeting anticancer immunity in melanoma tumor microenvironment: Unleashing the potential of adjuvants, drugs, and phytochemicals

Melanoma poses a challenge in oncology because of its aggressive nature and limited treatment modalities. The tumor microenvironment (TME) in melanoma contains unique properties such as an immunosuppressive and high-density environment, unusual vasculature, and a high number of stromal and immunosuppressive cells. In recent years, numerous experiments have focused on boosting the immune system to effectively remove malignant cells. Adjuvants, consisting of phytochemicals, toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists, and cytokines, have shown encouraging results in triggering antitumor immunity and augmenting the therapeutic effectiveness of anticancer therapy. These adjuvants can stimulate the maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) and infiltration of cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocytes (CTLs). Furthermore, nanocarriers can help to deliver immunomodulators and antigens directly to the tumor stroma, thereby improving their efficacy against malignant cells. The remodeling of melanoma TME utilizing phytochemicals, agonists, and other adjuvants can be combined with current modalities for improving therapy outcomes. This review article explores the potential of adjuvants, drugs, and their nanoformulations in enhancing the anticancer potency of macrophages, CTLs, and natural killer (NK) cells. Additionally, the capacity of these agents to repress the function of immunosuppressive components of melanoma TME, such as immunosuppressive subsets of macrophages, stromal and myeloid cells will be discussed.

Long-read single-cell sequencing reveals expressions of hypermutation clusters of isoforms in human liver cancer cells

The protein diversity of mammalian cells is determined by arrays of isoforms from genes. Genetic mutation is essential in species evolution and cancer development. Accurate long-read transcriptome sequencing at single-cell level is required to decipher the spectrum of protein expressions in mammalian organisms. In this report, we developed a synthetic long-read single-cell sequencing technology based on LOOPSeq technique. We applied this technology to analyze 447 transcriptomes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and benign liver from an individual. Through Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection analysis, we identified a panel of mutation mRNA isoforms highly specific to HCC cells. The evolution pathways that led to the hyper-mutation clusters in single human leukocyte antigen molecules were identified. Novel fusion transcripts were detected. The combination of gene expressions, fusion gene transcripts, and mutation gene expressions significantly improved the classification of liver cancer cells versus benign hepatocytes. In conclusion, LOOPSeq single-cell technology may hold promise to provide a new level of precision analysis on the mammalian transcriptome.

Immunologic Crosstalk of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Signaling in Bladder Cancer

Bladder cancer (BC) is a common malignant tumor of the urinary system. While current approaches involving adjuvant chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy have shown significant progress in BC treatment, challenges, such as recurrence and drug resistance, persist, especially in the case of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). It is mainly due to the lack of pre-existing immune response cells in the tumor immune microenvironment. Micro-environmental changes (such as hypoxia and under-nutrition) can cause the aggregation of unfolded and misfolded proteins in the lumen, which induces endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. ER stress and its downstream signaling pathways are closely related to immunogenicity and tumor drug resistance. ER stress plays a pivotal role in a spectrum of processes within immune cells and the progression of BC cells, encompassing cell proliferation, autophagy, apoptosis, and resistance to therapies. Recent studies have increasingly recognized the potential of natural compounds to exhibit anti-BC properties through ER stress induction. Still, the efficacy of these natural compounds remains less than that of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Currently, the ER stress-mediated immunogenic cell death (ICD) pathway is more encouraging, which can enhance ICI responses by mediating immune stemness. This article provides an overview of the recent developments in understanding how ER stress influences tumor immunity and its implications for BC. Targeting this pathway may soon emerge as a compelling therapeutic strategy for BC.

Immune aging - A mechanism in autoimmune disease

Evidence is emerging that the process of immune aging is a mechanism leading to autoimmunity. Over lifetime, the immune system adapts to profound changes in hematopoiesis and lymphogenesis, and progressively restructures in face of an ever-expanding exposome. Older adults fail to generate adequate immune responses against microbial infections and tumors, but accumulate aged T cells, B cells and myeloid cells. Age-associated B cells are highly efficient in autoantibody production. T-cell aging promotes the accrual of end-differentiated effector T cells with potent cytotoxic and pro-inflammatory abilities and myeloid cell aging supports a low grade, sterile and chronic inflammatory state (inflammaging). In pre-disposed individuals, immune aging can lead to frank autoimmune disease, manifesting with chronic inflammation and irreversible tissue damage. Emerging data support the concept that autoimmunity results from aging-induced failure of fundamental cellular processes in immune effector cells: genomic instability, loss of mitochondrial fitness, failing proteostasis, dwindling lysosomal degradation and inefficient autophagy. Here, we have reviewed the evidence that malfunctional mitochondria, disabled lysosomes and stressed endoplasmic reticula induce pathogenic T cells and macrophages that drive two autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and giant cell arteritis (GCA). Recognizing immune aging as a risk factor for autoimmunity will open new avenues of immunomodulatory therapy, including the repair of malfunctioning mitochondria and lysosomes.

Long-read single-cell sequencing reveals expressions of hypermutation clusters of isoforms in human liver cancer cells

The protein diversity of mammalian cells is determined by arrays of isoforms from genes. Genetic mutation is essential in species evolution and cancer development. Accurate Long-read transcriptome sequencing at single-cell level is required to decipher the spectrum of protein expressions in mammalian organisms. In this report, we developed a synthetic long-read single-cell sequencing technology based on LOOPseq technique. We applied this technology to analyze 447 transcriptomes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and benign liver from an individual. Through Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) analysis, we identified a panel of mutation mRNA isoforms highly specific to HCC cells. The evolution pathways that led to the hyper-mutation clusters in single human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules were identified. Novel fusion transcripts were detected. The combination of gene expressions, fusion gene transcripts, and mutation gene expressions significantly improved the classification of liver cancer cells versus benign hepatocytes. In conclusion, LOOPseq single-cell technology may hold promise to provide a new level of precision analysis on the mammalian transcriptome.

Smart Nanoparticle-Based Platforms for Regulating Tumor Microenvironment and Cancer Immunotherapy

Tumor development and metastasis are closely related to the tumor microenvironment (TME). Recently, several studies indicate that modulating TME can enhance cancer immunotherapy. Among various approaches to modulating TME, nanoparticles (NPs) with unique inherent advantages and smart modified characteristics are promising candidates in delivering drugs to cancer cells, amplifying the therapeutic effects, and leading to a cascade of immune responses. In this review, several smart NP-based platforms are briefly introduced, such as responsive NPs, targeting NPs, and the composition of TME, including dendritic cells, macrophages, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, and regulatory T cells. Moreover, the recent applications of smart NP-based platforms in regulating TME and cancer immunotherapy are briefly introduced. Last, the advantages and disadvantages of these smart NP-based platforms in potential clinical translation are discussed.

When Natural Compounds Meet Nanotechnology: Nature-Inspired Nanomedicines for Cancer Immunotherapy

Recent significant strides of natural compounds in immunomodulation have highlighted their great potential against cancer. Despite many attempts being made for cancer immunotherapy, the biomedical application of natural compounds encounters a bottleneck because of their unclear mechanisms, low solubility and bioavailability, and limited efficacy. Herein, we summarize the immune regulatory mechanisms of different natural compounds at each step of the cancer-immunity cycle and highlight their anti-tumor potential and current limitations. We then propose and present various drug delivery strategies based on nanotechnology, including traditional nanoparticles (NPs)-based delivery strategies (lipid-based NPs, micelles, and polysaccharide/peptide/protein-based NPs) and novel delivery strategies (cell-derived NPs and carrier-free NPs), thus providing solutions to break through existing bottlenecks. Furthermore, representative applications of nature-inspired nanomedicines are also emphasized in detail with the advantages and disadvantages discussed. Finally, the challenges and prospects of natural compounds for cancer immunotherapy are provided, hopefully, to facilitate their far-reaching development toward clinical translation.