Impact of chemotactic factors and receptors on the cancer immune infiltrate: a bioinformatics study revealing homogeneity and heterogeneity among patient cohorts

A cuproptosis-related lncRNAs signature predicts prognosis and reveals pivotal interactions between immune cells in colon cancer

Copper-mediated cell death presents distinct pathways from established apoptosis processes, suggesting alternative therapeutic approaches for colon cancer. Our research aims to develop a predictive framework utilizing long-noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) related to cuproptosis to predict colon cancer outcomes while examining immune interactions and intercellular signaling. We obtained colon cancer-related human mRNA expression profiles and clinical information from the Cancer Genome Atlas repository. To isolate lncRNAs involved in cuproptosis, we applied Cox proportional hazards modeling alongside the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator technique. We elucidated the underlying mechanisms by examining the tumor mutational burden, the extent of immune cell penetration, and intercellular communication dynamics. Based on the model, drugs were predicted and validated with cytological experiments. A 13 lncRNA-cuproptosis-associated risk model was constructed. Two colon cancer cell lines were used to validate the predicted representative mRNAs with high correlation coefficients with copper-induced cell death. Survival enhancement in the low-risk cohort was evidenced by the trends in Kaplan-Meier survival estimates. Analysis of immune cell infiltration suggested that survival was induced by the increased infiltration of naïve CD4+ T cells and a reduction of M2 macrophages within the low-risk faction. Decreased infiltration of naïve B cells, resting NK cells, and M0 macrophages was significantly associated with better overall survival. Combined single-cell analysis suggested that CCL5-ACKR1, CCL2-ACKR1, and CCL5-CCR1 pathways play key roles in mediating intercellular dialogues among immune constituents within the neoplastic microhabitat. We identified three drugs with a high sensitivity in the high-risk group. In summary, this discovery establishes the possibility of using 13 cuproptosis-associated lncRNAs as a risk model to assess the prognosis, unravel the immune mechanisms and cell communication, and improve treatment options, which may provide a new idea for treating colon cancer.

Pericytes recruited by CCL28 promote vascular normalization after anti-angiogenesis therapy through RA/RXRA/ANGPT1 pathway in lung adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

It has been proposed that anti-angiogenesis therapy could induce tumor "vascular normalization" and further enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, target therapy, and immunotherapy for nearly twenty years. However, the detailed molecular mechanism of this phenomenon is still obscure.

METHOD

Overexpression and knockout of CCL28 in human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 and murine lung adenocarcinoma cell line LLC, respectively, were utilized to establish mouse models. Single-cell sequencing was performed to analyze the proportion of different cell clusters and metabolic changes in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Immunofluorescence and multiplex immunohistochemistry were conducted in murine tumor tissues and clinical biopsy samples to assess the percentage of pericytes coverage. Primary pericytes were isolated from lung adenocarcinoma tumor tissues using magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS). These pericytes were then treated with recombinant human CCL28 protein, followed by transwell migration assays and RNA sequencing analysis. Changes in the secretome and metabolome were examined, and verification of retinoic acid metabolism alterations in pericytes was conducted using quantitative real-time PCR, western blotting, and LC-MS technology. Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by quantitative PCR (ChIP-qPCR) was employed to validate the transcriptional regulatory ability and affinity of RXRα to specific sites at the ANGPT1 promoter.

RESULTS

Our study showed that after undergoing anti-angiogenesis treatment, the tumor exhibited a state of ischemia and hypoxia, leading to an upregulation in the expression of CCL28 in hypoxic lung adenocarcinoma cells by the hypoxia-sensitive transcription factor CEBPB. Increased CCL28 could promote tumor vascular normalization through recruiting and metabolic reprogramming pericytes in the tumor microenvironment. Mechanistically, CCL28 modified the retinoic acid (RA) metabolism and increased ANGPT1 expression via RXRα in pericytes, thereby enhancing the stability of endothelial cells.

CONCLUSION

We reported the details of the molecular mechanisms of "vascular normalization" after anti-angiogenesis therapy for the first time. Our work might provide a prospective molecular marker for guiding the clinical arrangement of combination therapy between anti-angiogenesis treatment and other therapies.

Aging-related biomarker discovery in the era of immune checkpoint inhibitors for cancer patients

Older patients with cancer, particularly those over 75 years of age, often experience poorer clinical outcomes compared to younger patients. This can be attributed to age-related comorbidities, weakened immune function, and reduced tolerance to treatment-related adverse effects. In the immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) era, age has emerged as an influential factor impacting the discovery of predictive biomarkers for ICI treatment. These age-linked changes in the immune system can influence the composition and functionality of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) that play a crucial role in the cancer response. Older patients may have lower levels of TIICs infiltration due to age-related immune senescence particularly T cell function, which can limit the effectivity of cancer immunotherapies. Furthermore, age-related immune dysregulation increases the exhaustion of immune cells, characterized by the dysregulation of ICI-related biomarkers and a dampened response to ICI. Our review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that contribute to the impact of age on ICI-related biomarkers and ICI response. Understanding these mechanisms will facilitate the development of treatment approaches tailored to elderly individuals with cancer.

Immune microenvironment dynamics of HER2 overexpressing breast cancer under dual anti-HER2 blockade

Introduction

The clinical prognosis of the HER2-overexpressing (HER2-OE) subtype of breast cancer (BC) is influenced by the immune infiltrate of the tumor. Specifically, monocytic cells, which are promoters of pro-tumoral immunosuppression, and NK cells, whose basal cytotoxic function may be enhanced with therapeutic antibodies. One of the standards of care for HER2+ BC patients includes the combination of the anti-HER2 antibodies trastuzumab and pertuzumab. This dual combination was a breakthrough against trastuzumab resistance; however, this regimen does not yield complete clinical benefit for a large fraction of patients. Further therapy refinement is still hampered by the lack of knowledge on the immune mechanism of action of this antibody-based dual HER2 blockade.

Methods

To explore how the dual antibody challenge influences the phenotype and function of immune cells infiltrating the HER2-OE BC microenvironment, we developed in vitro 3D heterotypic cell models of this subtype. The models comprised aggregates of HER2+ BC cell lines and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Cells were co-encapsulated in a chemically inert alginate hydrogel and maintained in agitation-based culture system for up to 7 days.

Results

The 3D models of the HER2-OE immune microenvironment retained original BC molecular features; the preservation of the NK cell compartment was achieved upon optimization of culture time and cytokine supplementation. Challenging the models with the standard-of-care combination of trastuzumab and pertuzumab resulted in enhanced immune cytotoxicity compared with trastuzumab alone. Features of the response to therapy within the immune tumor microenvironment were recapitulated, including induction of an immune effector state with NK cell activation, enhanced cell apoptosis and decline of immunosuppressive PD-L1+ immune cells.

Conclusions

This work presents a unique human 3D model for the study of immune effects of anti-HER2 biologicals, which can be used to test novel therapy regimens and improve anti-tumor immune function.

Rethinking the chemokine cascade in brain metastasis: Preventive and therapeutic implications

Brain metastasis (BrM) is one of the major causes of death in cancer patients and is associated with an estimated 10-40 % of total cancer cases. The survival rate of brain metastatic patients has not improved due to intratumor heterogeneity, the survival adaptations of brain homing metastatic cells, and the lack of understanding of underlying molecular mechanisms that limit the availability of effective therapies. The heterogeneous population of immune cells and tumor-initiating cells or cancer stem cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) release various factors, such as chemokines that upon binding to their cognate receptors enhance tumor growth at primary sites and help tumor cells metastasize to the brain. Furthermore, brain metastatic sites have unique heterogeneous microenvironment that fuels cancer cells in establishing BrM. This review explores the crosstalk of chemokines with the heterogeneous TME during the progression of BrM and recognizes potential therapeutic approaches. We also discuss and summarize different targeted, immunotherapeutic, chemotherapeutic, and combinatorial strategies (with chemo-/immune- or targeted-therapies) to attenuate chemokines mediated BrM.

The role of polyamine metabolism in remodeling immune responses and blocking therapy within the tumor immune microenvironment

The study of metabolism provides important information for understanding the biological basis of cancer cells and the defects of cancer treatment. Disorders of polyamine metabolism is a common metabolic change in cancer. With the deepening of understanding of polyamine metabolism, including molecular functions and changes in cancer, polyamine metabolism as a new anti-cancer strategy has become the focus of attention. There are many kinds of polyamine biosynthesis inhibitors and transport inhibitors, but not many drugs have been put into clinical application. Recent evidence shows that polyamine metabolism plays essential roles in remodeling the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), particularly treatment of DFMO, an inhibitor of ODC, alters the immune cell population in the tumor microenvironment. Tumor immunosuppression is a major problem in cancer treatment. More and more studies have shown that the immunosuppressive effect of polyamines can help cancer cells to evade immune surveillance and promote tumor development and progression. Therefore, targeting polyamine metabolic pathways is expected to become a new avenue for immunotherapy for cancer.

A highly branched α-D-glucan facilitates antitumor immunity by reducing cancer cell CXCL5 expression

Tumor immunotherapy has emerged as a major pillar of anticancer therapeutic strategies. Natural polysaccharides, known for their strong immunomodulatory activities with relatively low cost and toxicity, are becoming promising prospects for cancer immunotherapy. In this study, we investigated the antitumor mechanism of JNY2PW, a highly branched α-D-glucan previously purified from the traditional marine Chinese medicine Arca inflata. JNY2PW was shown to enhance the sensitivity of tumor cells to co-culture macrophage supernatants by decreasing cancer cell CXCL5 expression. Furthermore, JNY2PW exerted antitumor effects without obvious toxic side effects in tumor-bearing mice by triggering the Akt/mTOR and ERK/GSK3β/β-catenin pathways and attenuating expression of CXCL5 in cancer cells. Remarkably, JNY2PW reduced tumor proliferation and dampened CXCL5 expression in tumor cells overexpressing CXCL5 both in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, JNY2PW blocked epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in both CXCL5-overexpressing and wild type tumor cells. Our data therefore uncovered a previously unrecognized antitumor mechanism for JNY2PW, suggesting that JNY2PW is a promising adjuvant as an immunomodulator for cancer immunotherapy.

Harnessing the chemokine system to home CAR-T cells into solid tumors

CAR-T cell therapy has been heralded as a breakthrough in the field of immunotherapy, but to date, this success has been limited to hematological malignancies. By harnessing the chemokine system and taking into consideration the chemokine expression profile in the tumor microenvironment, CAR-T cells may be homed into tumors to facilitate direct tumor cell cytolysis and overcome a major hurdle in generating effective CAR-T cell responses to solid cancers.

Immune-related lncRNA classification of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Background

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a critical role in innate and adaptive immune responses. Thus, we aimed to identify ideal subtypes for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) based on immune-related lncRNAs.

Methods

TCGA HNSCC cohort was divided into two datasets (training and validation dataset), and 960 previously characterized immune-related lncRNAs were extracted for non-negative matrix factorization analysis. We characterized our HNSCC subtypes based on biological behaviors, immune landscape and response to immunotherapy in both training and validation cohort. A lncRNA-signature was generated to predict our HNSCC subtypes, and essential lncRNAs involved in tumor microenvironment (TME) were identified.

Results

We developed and validated two HNSCC subtypes (C1 and C2) based on the 70 lncRNAs in the training and validation cohort. C2 subtype displayed good prognosis, high immune cell infiltration, immune-related genes expression and sensitivity to PD-1 blockade. C1 subtype was associated with high activity of mTORC1 signaling and glycolysis as well as high fraction of inactive immune cells. Finally, we generated a 31-lncRNA signature that could predict our above subtypes with high accurate. Additionally, TRG-AS1 was identified as the essential lncRNA involving TME formation. Knockdown of TRG-AS1 inhibited the expression of HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11. High expression of TRG-AS1 indicated a favorable prognosis in HNSCC and anti-PD-L1 cohort (IMvigor210).

Conclusions

Our study establishes a novel HNSCC classification on the basis of 31-lncRNA, helping to identify beneficiaries for anti-PD-1 treatment. In addition, a critical lncRNA TRG-AS1 is identified as a new potential prognosis biomarker as well as therapeutic target.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12935-022-02450-z.

On the deformation and frequency analyses of SARS-CoV-2 at nanoscale

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has emerged as a Covid-19 pandemic, has had the most significant impact on people's health, economy, and lifestyle around the world today. In the present study, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is mechanically simulated to obtain its deformation and natural frequencies. The virus under analysis is modeled on a viscoelastic spherical structure. The theory of shell structures in mechanics is used to derive the governing equations. Whereas the virus has nanometric size, using classical theories may give incorrect results. Consequently, the nonlocal elasticity theory is used to consider the effect of interatomic forces on the results. From the mechanical point of view, if a structure vibrates with a natural frequency specific to it, the resonance phenomenon will occur in that structure, leading to its destruction. Therefore, it is possible that the protein chains of SARS-CoV-2 would be destroyed by vibrating it at natural frequencies. Since the mechanical properties of SARS-CoV-2 are not clearly known due to the new emergence of this virus, deformation and natural frequencies are obtained in a specific interval. Researchers could also use this investigation as a pioneering study to find a non-vaccine treatment solution for the SARS-CoV-2 virus and various viruses, including HIV.

Pouring petrol on the flames: Using oncolytic virotherapies to enhance tumour immunogenicity

Oncolytic viruses possess the ability to infect, replicate and lyse malignantly transformed tumour cells. This oncolytic activity amplifies the therapeutic advantage and induces a form of immunogenic cell death, characterized by increased CD8 + T-cell infiltration into the tumour microenvironment. This important feature of oncolytic viruses can result in the warming up of immunologically 'cold' tumour types, presenting the enticing possibility that oncolytic virus treatment combined with immunotherapies may enhance efficacy. In this review, we assess some of the most promising candidates that might be used for oncolytic virotherapy: immunotherapy combinations. We assess their potential as separate agents or as agents combined into a single therapy, where the immunotherapy is encoded within the genome of the oncolytic virus. The development of such advanced agents will require increasingly sophisticated model systems for their preclinical assessment and evaluation. In vivo rodent model systems are fraught with limitations in this regard. Oncolytic viruses replicate selectively within human cells and therefore require human xenografts in immune-deficient mice for their evaluation. However, the use of immune-deficient rodent models hinders the ability to study immune responses against any immunomodulatory transgenes engineered within the viral genome and expressed within the tumour microenvironment. There has therefore been a shift towards the use of more sophisticated ex vivo patient-derived model systems based on organoids and explant co-cultures with immune cells, which may be more predictive of efficacy than contrived and artificial animal models. We review the best of those model systems here.

Influence of Different Age Cutoff Points on the Prediction of Prognosis of Cancer Patients Receiving ICIs and Potential Mechanistic Exploration

Age is a potential predictive marker for the prognosis of cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), but the appropriate age cutoff point is still controversial. We aimed to explore the influence of different age cutoff points on the prediction of prognosis for patients receiving ICIs and explore the mechanism underlying the appropriate age cutoff point from the aspects of gene mutation and expression, immune cell infiltration and so on. We applied cutoff points of 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, and 75 years old to divide 1660 patients from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) immunotherapy cohort into older and younger groups and performed survival analysis of the six subgroups. The results showed that older patients had better survival than younger patients in accordance with the cutoff point of 50 years old [median overall survival (OS) (95% CI): 13.0 (10.5-15.5) months vs. 20.0 (16.7-23.3) months; p=0.002; unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI): 0.77 (0.65-0.91)], whereas no significant difference was observed with other cutoff points. Further analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and the MSKCC immunotherapy cohort data showed that the tumor mutation burden (TMB), neoantigen load (NAL), DNA damage response and repair (DDR) pathway mutation status, mutation frequencies of most genes (except IDH1, BRAF and ATRX), the expression of most immune-related genes and the degree of infiltration of most immune cells (such as CD8+ T cells and M1 macrophages) were higher in the elderly group (aged ≥50 years).

Metabolic modulation by CDK4/6 inhibitor promotes chemokine-mediated recruitment of T cells into mammary tumors

Inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6i) delay progression of metastatic breast cancer. However, complete responses are uncommon and tumors eventually relapse. Here, we show that CDK4/6i can enhance efficacy of T cell-based therapies, such as adoptive T cell transfer or T cell-activating antibodies anti-OX40/anti-4-1BB, in murine breast cancer models. This effect is driven by the induction of chemokines CCL5, CXCL9, and CXCL10 in CDK4/6i-treated tumor cells facilitating recruitment of activated CD8+ T cells, but not Tregs, into the tumor. Mechanistically, chemokine induction is associated with metabolic stress that CDK4/6i treatment induces in breast cancer cells. Despite the cell cycle arrest, CDK4/6i-treated cells retain high metabolic activity driven by deregulated PI3K/mTOR pathway. This causes cell hypertrophy and increases mitochondrial content/activity associated with oxidative stress and inflammatory stress response. Our findings uncover a link between tumor metabolic vulnerabilities and anti-tumor immunity and support further development of CDK4/6i and immunotherapy combinations.

Tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cell antitumor efficacy and exhaustion: molecular insights

Host immunity has an essential role in the clinical management of cancers. Therefore, it is advantageous to choose therapies that can promote tumor cell death and concurrently boost host immunity. The dynamic tumor microenvironment (TME) determines whether an antineoplastic drug will elicit favorable or disparaging immune responses from tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). CD8+ T cells are one of the primary tumor-infiltrating immune cells that deliver antitumor responses. Here, we review the influence of various factors in the TME on CD8+ T cell exhaustion and survival, and possible strategies for restoring CD8+ T cell effector function through immunotherapy.

Heterodimeric IL-15 delays tumor growth and promotes intratumoral CTL and dendritic cell accumulation by a cytokine network involving XCL1, IFN-γ, CXCL9 and CXCL10

BACKGROUND

Interleukin-15 (IL-15) promotes growth and activation of cytotoxic CD8⁺ T and natural killer (NK) cells. Bioactive IL-15 is produced in the body as a heterodimeric cytokine, comprising the IL-15 and IL-15 receptor alpha chains (hetIL-15). Several preclinical models support the antitumor activity of hetIL-15 promoting its application in clinical trials.

METHODS

The antitumor activity of hetIL-15 produced from mammalian cells was tested in mouse tumor models (MC38 colon carcinoma and TC-1 epithelial carcinoma). The functional diversity of the immune infiltrate and the cytokine/chemokine network within the tumor was evaluated by flow cytometry, multicolor immunohistochemistry (IHC), gene expression profiling by Nanostring Technologies, and protein analysis by electrochemiluminescence and ELISA assays.

RESULTS

hetIL-15 treatment resulted in delayed primary tumor growth. Increased NK and CD8⁺ T cell tumoral infiltration with an increased CD8⁺/Treg ratio were found by flow cytometry and IHC in hetIL-15 treated animals. Intratumoral NK and CD8⁺ T cells showed activation features with enhanced interferon-γ (IFN-γ) production, proliferation (Ki67⁺), cytotoxic potential (Granzyme B⁺) and expression of the survival factor Bcl-2. Transcriptomics and proteomics analyses revealed complex effects on the tumor microenvironment triggered by hetIL-15 therapy, including increased levels of IFN-γ and XCL1 with intratumoral accumulation of XCR1⁺IRF8⁺CD103⁺ conventional type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1). Concomitantly, the production of the chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10 by tumor-localized myeloid cells, including cDC1, was boosted by hetIL-15 in an IFN-γ-dependent manner. An increased frequency of circulating CXCR3⁺ NK and CD8⁺ T cells was found, suggesting their ability to migrate toward the tumors following the CXCL9 and CXCL10 chemokine gradient.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results show that hetIL-15 administration enhances T cell entry into tumors, increasing the success rate of immunotherapy interventions. Our study further supports the incorporation of hetIL-15 in tumor immunotherapy approaches to promote the development of antitumor responses by favoring effector over regulatory cells and by promoting lymphocyte and DC localization into tumors through the modification of the tumor chemokine and cytokine milieu.

Cytokines in oncolytic virotherapy

Tumors represent a hostile environment for the effector cells of cancer immunosurveillance. Immunosuppressive receptors and soluble or membrane-bound ligands are abundantly exposed and released by malignant entities and their stromal accomplices. As a consequence, executioners of antitumor immunity inefficiently navigate across cancer tissues and fail to eliminate malignant targets. By inducing immunogenic cancer cell death, oncolytic viruses profoundly reshape the tumor microenvironment. They trigger the local spread of danger signals and tumor-associated (as well as viral) antigens, thus attracting antigen-presenting cells, promoting the activation and expansion of lymphocytic populations, facilitating their infiltration in the tumor bed, and reinvigorating cytotoxic immune activity. The present review recapitulates key chemokines, growth factors and other cytokines that orchestrate this ballet of antitumoral leukocytes upon oncolytic virotherapy.

Serum Chemokine-release Profiles in AML-patients Might Contribute to Predict the Clinical Course of the Disease

In cancer or hematologic disorders, chemokines act as growth- or survival factors, regulating hematopoiesis and angiogenesis, determining metastatic spread and controlling leukocyte infiltration into tumors to inhibit antitumor immune responses. The aim was to quantify the release of CXCL8, -9, -10, CCL2, -5, and IL-12 in AML/MDS-pts' serum by cytometric bead array and to correlate data with clinical subtypes and courses. Minimal differences in serum-levels subdivided into various groups (e.g. age groups, FAB-types, blast-proportions, cytogenetic-risk-groups) were seen, but higher release of CXCL8, -9, -10 and lower release of CCL2 and -5 tendentially correlated with more favorable subtypes (<50 years of age, <80% blasts in PB). Comparing different stages of the disease higher CCL5-release in persisting disease and a significantly higher CCL2-release at relapse were found compared to first diagnosis - pointing to a change of 'disease activity' on a chemokine level. Correlations with later on achieved response to immunotherapy and occurrence of GVHD were seen: Higher values of CXCL8, -9, -10 and CCL2 and lower CCL5-values correlated with achieved response to immunotherapy. Predictive cut-off-values were evaluated separating the groups in 'responders' and 'non-responders'. Higher levels of CCL2 and -5 but lower levels of CXCL8, -9, -10 correlated with occurrence of GVHD. We conclude, that in AML-pts' serum higher values of CXCL8, -9, -10 and lower values of CCL5 and in part of CCL2 correlate with more favorable subtypes and improved antitumor'-reactive function. This knowledge can contribute to develop immune-modifying strategies that promote antileukemic adaptive immune responses.

Contribution of annexin A1 to anticancer immunosurveillance

Mouse cancers lacking the expression of annexin A1 (ANXA1) fail to respond to immunogenic chemotherapies. This has been initially explained by the requirement of extracellular ANXA1 (which is released from dying cancer cells) to engage formyl peptide receptor-1 (FPR1) on dendritic cells (DC) for the establishment of corpse/DC synapses. Here, we show that ANXA1-deficent cancer cells exhibit a defect in the exposure of calreticulin (CALR), which is an important "eat-me" signal, facilitating the phagocytic uptake of dead-cell antigens by DC. Of note, intratumoral injection of recombinant CALR protein was able to restore the therapeutic response of ANXA1-deficient cancers to anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Carcinomas developing in patients tend to downregulate ANXA1 expression as compared to their normal tissues of origin. ANXA1-low breast, colorectal, lung and kidney cancers are scarcely infiltrated by DC and cytotoxic T lymphocytes, supporting the idea that ANXA1 deficiency facilitates immune escape. We propose that such ANXA1-low cancers might be particularly suitable to local immunotherapy with CALR protein.

Trial watch: dietary interventions for cancer therapy

Dietary interventions have a profound impact on whole body metabolism, including oncometabolism (the metabolic features allowing cancer cells to proliferate) and immunometabolism (the catabolic and anabolic reactions that regulate immune responses). Recent preclinical studies demonstrated that multiple dietary changes can improve anticancer immunosurveillance of chemo-, radio- and immunotherapy. These findings have fostered the design of clinical trials evaluating the capacity of dietary interventions to synergize with treatment and hence limit tumor progression. Here, we discuss the scientific rationale for harnessing dietary interventions to improve the efficacy of anticancer therapy and present up-to-date information on clinical trials currently investigating this possibility.

Immune mediator expression signatures are associated with improved outcome in ovarian carcinoma

Immune and inflammatory cascades may play multiple roles in ovarian cancer. We aimed to identify relationships between expression of immune and inflammatory mediators and patient outcomes. We interrogated differential gene expression of 44 markers and marker combinations (n = 1,978) in 1,656 ovarian carcinoma patient tumors, alongside matched 5-year overall survival (OS) data in silico. Using machine learning methods, we investigated whether genomic expression of these 44 mediators can discriminate between malignant and non-malignant tissues in 839 ovarian cancer and 115 non-malignant ovary samples. We furthermore assessed inflammation markers in 289 ovarian cancer patients’ sera in the Swedish Apolipoprotein MOrtality-related RISk (AMORIS) cohort. Expression of the 44 mediators could discriminate between malignant and non-malignant tissues with at least 96% accuracy. Higher expression of classical Th1, Th2, Th17, anti-parasitic/infection and M1 macrophage mediator signatures were associated with better OS. Contrastingly, inflammatory and angiogenic mediators, CXCL-12, C-reactive protein (CRP) and platelet-derived growth factor subunit A (PDGFA) were negatively associated with OS. Of the serum inflammatory markers in the AMORIS cohort, women with ovarian cancer who had elevated levels of haptoglobin (≥1.4 g/L) had a higher risk of dying from ovarian cancer compared to those with haptoglobin levels <1.4 g/L (HR = 2.09, 95% CI:1.38–3.16). Our findings indicate that elevated “classical” immune mediators, associated with response to pathogen antigen challenge, may confer immunological advantage in ovarian cancer, while inflammatory markers appear to have negative prognostic value. These highlight associations between immune protection, inflammation and clinical outcomes, and offer opportunities for patient stratification based on secretome markers.

Chemokines Modulate Immune Surveillance in Tumorigenesis, Metastasis, and Response to Immunotherapy

Chemokines are small secreted proteins that orchestrate migration and positioning of immune cells within the tissues. Chemokines are essential for the function of the immune system. Accumulating evidence suggest that chemokines play important roles in tumor microenvironment. In this review we discuss an association of chemokine expression and activity within the tumor microenvironment with cancer outcome. We summarize regulation of immune cell recruitment into the tumor by chemokine-chemokine receptor interactions and describe evidence implicating chemokines in promotion of the "inflamed" immune-cell enriched tumor microenvironment. We review both tumor-promoting function of chemokines, such as regulation of tumor metastasis, and beneficial chemokine roles, including stimulation of anti-tumor immunity and response to immunotherapy. Finally, we discuss the therapeutic strategies target tumor-promoting chemokines or induce/deliver beneficial chemokines within the tumor focusing on pre-clinical studies and clinical trials going forward. The goal of this review is to provide insight into comprehensive role of chemokines and their receptors in tumor pathobiology and treatment.

Chemokines and Chemokine Receptors: Orchestrating Tumor Metastasization

Metastasis still represents the primary cause of cancer morbidity and mortality worldwide. Chemokine signalling contributes to the overall process of cancer growth and metastasis, and their expression in both primary tumors and metastatic lesions correlate with prognosis. Chemokines promote tumor metastasization by directly supporting cancer cell survival and invasion, angiogenesis, and by indirectly shaping the pre-metastatic niches and antitumor immunity. Here, we will focus on the relevant chemokine/chemokine receptor axes that have been described to drive the metastatic process. We elaborate on their role in the regulation of tumor angiogenesis and immune cell recruitment at both the primary tumor lesions and the pre-metastatic foci. Furthermore, we also discuss the advantages and limits of current pharmacological strategies developed to target chemokine networks for cancer therapy.