Human breast cancer-derived soluble factors facilitate CCL19-induced chemotaxis of human dendritic cells

Dendritic cell therapy for neurospoagioma: Immunomodulation mediated by tumor vaccine

Neurospagioma, arising from different glial cells such as astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and ependymal cells, stands as the prevalent intracranial tumor within the central nervous system. Among its variants, glioblastoma (GBM) represents the most aggressive form, characterized by a notably high occurrence rate and a discouragingly low survival prognosis. The formidable challenge posed by glioblastoma underscores its critical importance as a life-threatening ailment. Currently, clinical approaches often involve surgical excision along with a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. However, these treatments frequently result in a notable recurrence rate, accompanied by substantial adverse effects that significantly compromise the overall prognosis. Hence, there is a crucial need to investigate novel and dependable treatment strategies. Dendritic cells (DCs), being specialized antigen-presenting cells (APCs), hold a significant position in both innate and adaptive immune responses. Presently, DC vaccines have gained widespread application in the treatment of various tumors, including neurospoagioma. In this review, we summarize the immunomodulatory effects and related mechanisms of DC vaccines in neurospoagioma as well as the progress of clinical trials to propose possible challenges of DC vaccines and new development directions.

Reprogramming the lipid metabolism of dendritic cells in tumor immunomodulation and immunotherapy

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most potent antigen-presenting cells in the human body. They detect and process environmental signals and communicate with T cells to bridge innate and adaptive immunity. Cell activation, function, and survival are closely associated with cellular metabolism. An increasing number of studies have revealed that lipid metabolism affects DC activation as well as innate and acquired immune responses. Combining lipid metabolic regulation with immunotherapy can strengthen the ability of antigen-presentation and T-cell activation of DCs, improve the existing anti-tumor therapy, and overcome the defects of DC-related therapies in the current stage, which has great potential in cancer therapy. This review summarizes the lipid metabolism of DCs under physiological conditions, analyzes the role of reprogramming the lipid metabolism of DCs in tumor immune regulation, and discusses potential immunotherapeutic strategies.

Micro-engineering and nano-engineering approaches to investigate tumour ecosystems

The interactions among tumour cells, the tumour microenvironment (TME) and non-tumour tissues are of interest to many cancer researchers. Micro-engineering approaches and nanotechnologies are under extensive exploration for modelling these interactions and measuring them in situ and in vivo to investigate therapeutic vulnerabilities in cancer and extend a systemic view of tumour ecosystems. Here we highlight the greatest opportunities for improving the understanding of tumour ecosystems using microfluidic devices, bioprinting or organ-on-a-chip approaches. We also discuss the potential of nanosensors that can transmit information from within the TME or elsewhere in the body to address scientific and clinical questions about changes in chemical gradients, enzymatic activities, metabolic and immune profiles of the TME and circulating analytes. This Review aims to connect the cancer biology and engineering communities, presenting biomedical technologies that may expand the methodologies of the former, while inspiring the latter to develop approaches for interrogating cancer ecosystems.

Dendritic cell vaccines in breast cancer: Immune modulation and immunotherapy

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Although substantial progress has been made in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, the efficacy and side effects of traditional treatment methods are still unsatisfactory. In recent years, immunotherapy including tumor vaccine has achieved great success in the treatment of BC. Dendritic cells (DCs) are multifunctional antigen-presenting cells that play an important role in the initiation and regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses. Numerous studies have shown that DC-based treatments might have a potential effect on BC. Among them, the clinical study of DC vaccine in BC has demonstrated considerable anti-tumor effect, and some DC vaccines have entered the stage of clinical trials. In this review, we summarize the immunomodulatory effects and related mechanisms of DC vaccine in breast cancer as well as the progress of clinical trials to propose possible challenges of DC vaccines and new development directions.

CCL19 has potential to be a potential prognostic biomarker and a modulator of tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) of breast cancer: a comprehensive analysis based on TCGA database

The development of cancer was determined by not only the intrinsic properties of cancer cells, but also the communication between cancer cells and tumor microenvironment (TME). We applied ESTIMATE and CIBERSORT algorithms to calculate the immune/stromal component and tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TICs) in TME of BC. The results showed that immune component in TME predicted patients’ survival and associated with progression of BC. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were primarily enriched in immune-related activities. Finally, CCL19 was acquired which shared the leading nodes in PPI network and was associated with patients’ survival. High expression of CCL19 predicted better prognosis and participated in progression of BC. Genes in CCL19 up-regulated group were enriched in immune-related activities and these functions might depend on the communications between CCL19 and multiple TICs in TIME. In conclusion, CCL19 functioned as a potential prognostic biomarker and a modulator of TIME in BC through communicating with various TICs.

Exhausted mature dendritic cells exhibit a slower and less persistent random motility but retain chemotaxis against CCL19

Dendritic cells (DCs), which are immune sentinels in the peripheral tissues, play a number of roles, including patrolling for pathogens, internalising antigens, transporting antigens to the lymph nodes (LNs), interacting with T cells, and secreting cytokines. The well-coordinated migration of DCs under various immunological or inflammatory conditions is therefore essential to ensure an effective immune response. Upon maturation, DCs migrate faster and more persistently than immature DCs (iDCs), which is believed to facilitate CCR7-dependent chemotaxis. It has been reported that lipopolysaccharide-activated DCs produce IL-12 only transiently, and become resistant to further stimulation through exhaustion. However, little is known about the influence of DC exhaustion on cellular motility. Here, we studied the cellular migration of exhausted DCs in tissue-mimicked confined environments. We found that the speed of exhausted matured DCs (xmDCs) decreased significantly compared to active matured DCs (amDCs) and iDCs. In contrast, the speed fluctuation increased compared to that of amDCs and was similar to that of iDCs. In addition, the diffusivity of the xmDCs was significantly lower than that of the amDCs, which implies that DC exhaustion reduces the space exploration ability. Interestingly, CCR7-dependent chemotaxis against CCL19 in xmDCs was not considerably different from that observed in amDCs. Taken together, we report a unique intrinsic cell migration behaviour of xmDCs, which exhibit a slower, less persistent, and less diffusive random motility, which results in the DCs remaining at the site of infection, although a well-preserved CCR7-dependent chemotactic motility is maintained.

Does CCL19 act as a double-edged sword in cancer development?

Cancer is considered a life-threatening disease, and several factors are involved in its development. Chemokines are small proteins that physiologically exert pivotal roles in lymphoid and non-lymphoid tissues. The imbalance or dysregulation of chemokines has contributed to the development of several diseases, especially cancer. CCL19 is one of the homeostatic chemokines that is abundantly expressed in the thymus and lymph nodes. This chemokine, which primarily regulates immune cell trafficking, is involved in cancer development. Through the induction of anti-tumor immune responses and inhibition of angiogenesis, CCL19 exerts tumor-suppressive functions. In contrast, CCL19 also acts as a tumor-supportive factor by inducing inflammation, cell growth, and metastasis. Moreover, CCL19 dysregulation in several cancers, including colorectal, breast, pancreatic, and lung cancers, has been considered a tumor biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis. Using CCL19-based therapeutic approaches has also been proposed to overcome cancer development. This review will shed more light on the multifarious function of CCL19 in cancer and elucidate its application in diagnosis, prognosis, and even therapy. It is expected that the study of CCL19 in cancer might be promising to broaden our knowledge of cancer development and might introduce novel approaches in cancer management.

Dendritic Cell Migration Is Tuned by Mechanical Stiffness of the Confining Space

The coordination of cell migration of immune cells is a critical aspect of the immune response to pathogens. Dendritic cells (DCs), the sentinels of the immune system, are exposed to complex tissue microenvironments with a wide range of stiffnesses. Recent studies have revealed the importance of mechanical cues in immune cell trafficking in confined 3D environments. However, the mechanism by which stiffness modulates the intrinsic motility of immature DCs remains poorly understood. Here, immature DCs were found to navigate confined spaces in a rapid and persistent manner, surveying a wide range when covered with compliant gels mimicking soft tissues. However, the speed and persistence time of random motility were both decreased by confinement in gels with higher stiffness, mimicking skin or diseased, fibrotic tissue. The impact of stiffness of surrounding tissue is crucial because most in vitro studies to date have been based on cellular locomotion when confined by microfabricated polydimethylsiloxane structures. Our study provides evidence for a role for environmental mechanical stiffness in the surveillance strategy of immature DCs in tissues.

Immunocompetent cancer-on-chip models to assess immuno-oncology therapy

The advances in cancer immunotherapy come with several obstacles, limiting its widespread use and benefits so far only to a small subset of patients. One of the underlying challenges remains to be the lack of representative nonclinical models that translate to human immunity and are able to predict clinical efficacy and safety outcomes. In recent years, immunocompetent Cancer-on-Chip models emerge as an alternative human-based platform that enables the integration and manipulation of complex tumor microenvironment. In this review, we discuss novel opportunities offered by Cancer-on-Chip models to advance (mechanistic) immuno-oncology research, ranging from design flexibility to multimodal analysis approaches. We then exemplify their (potential) applications for the research and development of adoptive cell therapy, immune checkpoint therapy, cytokine therapy, oncolytic virus, and cancer vaccines.

Identification of 4-genes model in papillary renal cell tumor microenvironment based on comprehensive analysis

BACKGROUND

The tumor microenvironment acts a pivotal part in the occurrence and development of tumor. However, there are few studies on the microenvironment of papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC). Our study aims to explore prognostic genes related to tumor microenvironment in PRCC.

METHODS

PRCC expression profiles and clinical data were extracted from The Cancer Gene Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Immune/stromal scores were performed utilizing the ESTIMATE algorithm. Three hundred fifty-seven samples were split into two groups on the basis of median immune/stromal score, and comparison of gene expression was conducted. Intersect genes were obtained by Venn diagrams. Hub genes were selected through protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction, and relevant functional analysis was conducted by DAVID. We used Kaplan-Meier analysis to identify the correlations between genes and overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Univariate and multivariate cox regression analysis were employed to construct survival model. Cibersort was used to predict the immune cell composition of high and low risk group. Combined nomograms were built to predict PRCC prognosis. Immune properties of PRCC were validated by The Cancer Immunome Atlas (TCIA).

RESULTS

We found immune/stromal score was correlated with T pathological stages and PRCC subtypes. Nine hundred eighty-nine differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 1169 DEGs were identified respectively on the basis of immune and stromal score. Venn diagrams indicated that 763 co-upregulated genes and 4 co-downregulated genes were identified. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that 120 genes were involved in tumor prognosis. Then PPI network analysis identified 22 hub genes, and four of which were significantly related to OS in patients with PRCC confirmed by cox regression analysis. Finally, we constructed a prognostic nomogram which combined with influence factors.

CONCLUSIONS

Four tumor microenvironment-related genes (CD79A, CXCL13, IL6 and CCL19) were identified as biomarkers for PRCC prognosis.

Integrating multi-omics data through deep learning for accurate cancer prognosis prediction

BACKGROUND

Genomic information is nowadays widely used for precise cancer treatments. Since the individual type of omics data only represents a single view that suffers from data noise and bias, multiple types of omics data are required for accurate cancer prognosis prediction. However, it is challenging to effectively integrate multi-omics data due to the large number of redundant variables but relatively small sample size. With the recent progress in deep learning techniques, Autoencoder was used to integrate multi-omics data for extracting representative features. Nevertheless, the generated model is fragile from data noises. Additionally, previous studies usually focused on individual cancer types without making comprehensive tests on pan-cancer. Here, we employed the denoising Autoencoder to get a robust representation of the multi-omics data, and then used the learned representative features to estimate patients' risks.

RESULTS

By applying to 15 cancers from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), our method was shown to improve the C-index values over previous methods by 6.5% on average. Considering the difficulty to obtain multi-omics data in practice, we further used only mRNA data to fit the estimated risks by training XGboost models, and found the models could achieve an average C-index value of 0.627. As a case study, the breast cancer prognosis prediction model was independently tested on three datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and shown able to significantly separate high-risk patients from low-risk ones (C-index>0.6, p-values<0.05). Based on the risk subgroups divided by our method, we identified nine prognostic markers highly associated with breast cancer, among which seven genes have been proved by literature review.

CONCLUSION

Our comprehensive tests indicated that we have constructed an accurate and robust framework to integrate multi-omics data for cancer prognosis prediction. Moreover, it is an effective way to discover cancer prognosis-related genes.

Could Increased Expression of Hsp27, an "Anti-Inflammatory" Chaperone, Contribute to the Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cell Bias towards Tolerance Induction in Breast Cancer Patients?

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most efficient antigen-presenting cells and link the innate immune sensing of the environment to the initiation of adaptive immune responses, which may be directed to either acceptance or elimination of the recognized antigen. In cancer patients, though DCs would be expected to present tumor antigens to T lymphocytes and induce tumor-eliminating responses, this is frequently not the case. The complex tumor microenvironment subverts the immune response, blocks some effector mechanisms, and drives others to support tumor growth. Chronic inflammation in a tumor microenvironment is believed to contribute to the induction of such regulatory/tolerogenic response. Among the various mediators of the modulatory switch in chronic inflammation is the “antidanger signal” chaperone, heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27), that has been described, interestingly, to be associated with cell migration and drug resistance of breast cancer cells. Thus, here, we investigated the expression of Hsp27 during the differentiation of monocyte-derived DCs (Mo-DCs) from healthy donors and breast cancer patients and evaluated their surface phenotype, cytokine secretion pattern, and lymphostimulatory activity. Surface phenotype and lymphocyte proliferation were evaluated by flow cytometry, interferon- (IFN-) γ, and interleukin- (IL-) 10 secretion, by ELISA and Hsp27 expression, by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Mo-DCs from cancer patients presented decreased expression of DC maturation markers, decreased ability to induce allogeneic lymphocyte proliferation, and increased IL-10 secretion. In coculture with breast cancer cell lines, healthy donors' Mo-DCs showed phenotype changes similar to those found in patients' cells. Interestingly, patients' monocytes expressed less GM-CSF and IL-4 receptors than healthy donors' monocytes and Hsp27 expression was significantly higher in patients' Mo-DCs (and in tumor samples). Both phenomena could contribute to the phenotypic bias of breast cancer patients' Mo-DCs and might prove potential targets for the development of new immunotherapeutic approaches for breast cancer.

Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cells Are a Preferred Source to Generate Dendritic Cells for Immunotherapy in Multiple Myeloma Patients

In multiple myeloma (MM), dendritic cells (DCs), and their precursors are prone to malignant cell-mediated regulation of function leading to low efficacy of DC vaccine. DCs taken directly from MM patient's body or derived from monocytes are fewer in numbers and are also dysfunctional. Here, we investigated the functionality of Hematopoietic stem cell-derived DCs (SC-DCs) from MM patients. Mature-MM-SC-DCs showed all essential functions like antigen uptake, allogenic T cells simulation and migration comparable to those derived from healthy donor (HD) samples. A comparison of Mo-DCs and SC-DCs obtained from the same MM patients' samples revealed that the expression of IL-6 was higher in the precursors of Mo-DCs leading to their impaired migration. In addition, expression of CCR7 which is responsible for DCs migration was found to be lower in MM-Mo-DCs. The chromatin permissiveness as observed by H3K4me³ histone modification at the Ccr7 promoter in MM-Mo-DCs was significantly lower than those in MM-SC-DCs. Levels of Zbtb46- a hall mark DC transcription factor mRNA was also found to be reduced in MM-Mo-DCs. Cytotoxic T cells generated from MM-SC-DCs from autologous naïve T cells exhibited reduced antitumor activity because the T cells were exhausted. Blocking of CTLA-4 on autologous T cells could partially restore T cell proliferation and activation. Thus, a combination of MM-SC-DC vaccine and anti-CTLA-4 antibody may serve as a better candidate for immunotherapy of MM. This study has implications in increasing the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy in MM.

Immature dendritic cells navigate microscopic mazes to find tumor cells

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent antigen-presenting cells with high sentinel ability to scan their neighborhood and to initiate an adaptive immune response. Whereas chemotactic migration of mature DCs (mDCs) towards lymph nodes is relatively well documented, the migratory behavior of immature DCs (imDCs) in tumor microenvironments is still poorly understood. Here, microfluidic systems of various geometries, including mazes, are used to investigate how the physical and chemical microenvironment influences the migration pattern of imDCs. Under proper degree of confinement, the imDCs are preferentially recruited towards cancer vs. normal cells, accompanied by increased cell speed and persistence. Furthermore, a systematic screen of cytokines, reveals that Gas6 is a major chemokine responsible for the chemotactic preference. These results and the accompanying theoretical model suggest that imDC migration in complex tissue environments is tuned by a proper balance between the strength of the chemical gradients and the degree of spatial confinement.

Inflammation-on-a-Chip: Probing the Immune System Ex Vivo

Inflammation is the typical result of activating the host immune system against pathogens, and it helps to clear microbes from tissues. However, inflammation can occur in the absence of pathogens, contributing to tissue damage and leading to disease. Understanding how immune cells coordinate their activities to initiate, modulate, and terminate inflammation is key to developing effective interventions to preserve health and combat diseases. Towards this goal, inflammation-on-a-chip tools provide unique features that greatly benefit the study of inflammation. They reconstitute tissue environments in microfabricated devices and enable real-time, high-resolution observations and quantification of cellular activities relevant to inflammation. We review here recent advances in inflammation-on-a-chip technologies and highlight the biological insights and clinical applications enabled by these emerging tools.

Compromised functionality of monocyte-derived dendritic cells in multiple myeloma patients may limit their use in cancer immunotherapy

Dendritic cells (DCs) have the potential to elicit long-lasting anti-tumour immune responses. Most of the clinical trials of anti-cancer DC vaccines are based on monocyte-derived DCs (Mo-DCs). However, their outcomes have shown limited promise especially in multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Here, we investigated whether in vitro generated Mo-DCs from MM patients (MM-DCs) possess impaired functionality, thus contributing to the limited success of DC vaccines. We generated MM-DCs and compared them with DCs from healthy donors (HD-DCs). The yield of DCs in MM was 3.5 fold lower than in HD sets. However morphology, phenotype, antigen uptake and allo-T cell stimulation were comparable. Migration and secretion of IL12p70 and IFN-γ (in DC-T cell co-cultures) were significantly reduced in MM-DCs. Thus, MM-DCs were compromised in functionality. This impairment could be attributed to autocrine secretion of IL6 by MM-monocytes and activation of their P38 MAPK pathway. This indicates a need to look for alternative sources of DCs.

Increased CCL19 expression is associated with progression in cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer and the fourth leading cause of malignancy related mortality in women worldwide. CCL19 is highly expressed in human cancer cells, and ligand CCL19 binding to CCR7 induces actin polymerization and pseudopodia formation. However, whether or not CCL19 is involved in EMT of human cervical cancer needs further investigation. Using quantitative PCR and western blot analyses, we found that CCL19 is overexpressed in cervical cancer cell lines and tissues. Knockdown of CCL19 via siRNA inhibited the proliferation of cervical cancer cells by increasing apoptosis. Further analyses showed that inhibitory effects of CCL19 on cell migration and invasion were partly associated with EMT process. In conclusion, these data indicate that CCL19 is abnormally expressed in cervical cancer, indicating a novel and important role for CCL19 in cervical cancer malignant transformation.