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Wiley MB, Bauer J, Alvarez V, Mehrotra K, Cheng W, Kolics Z, Giarrizzo M, Ingle K, Bialkowska AB, Jung B. Activin A signaling stimulates neutrophil activation and macrophage migration in pancreatitis. Sci Rep 2024; 14:9382. [PMID: 38654064 PMCID: PMC11039671 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60065-y] [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: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Acute Pancreatitis (AP) is associated with high mortality and current treatment options are limited to supportive care. We found that blockade of activin A (activin) in mice improves outcomes in two murine models of AP. To test the hypothesis that activin is produced early in response to pancreatitis and is maintained throughout disease progression to stimulate immune cells, we first performed digital spatial profiling (DSP) of human chronic pancreatitis (CP) patient tissue. Then, transwell migration assays using RAW264.7 mouse macrophages and qPCR analysis of "neutrophil-like" HL-60 cells were used for functional correlation. Immunofluorescence and western blots on cerulein-induced pancreatitis samples from pancreatic acinar cell-specific Kras knock-in (Ptf1aCreER™; LSL-KrasG12D) and functional WT Ptf1aCreER™ mouse lines mimicking AP and CP to allow for in vivo confirmation. Our data suggest activin promotes neutrophil and macrophage activation both in situ and in vitro, while pancreatic activin production is increased as early as 1 h in response to pancreatitis and is maintained throughout CP in vivo. Taken together, activin is produced early in response to pancreatitis and is maintained throughout disease progression to promote neutrophil and macrophage activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark B Wiley
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
| | - Jessica Bauer
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
| | - Valentina Alvarez
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
| | - Kunaal Mehrotra
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
| | - Wenxuan Cheng
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
| | - Zoe Kolics
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
| | - Michael Giarrizzo
- Department of Medicine, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Komala Ingle
- Department of Medicine, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Agnieszka B Bialkowska
- Department of Medicine, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| | - Barbara Jung
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA.
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Wiley MB, Bauer J, Mehrotra K, Zessner-Spitzenberg J, Kolics Z, Cheng W, Castellanos K, Nash MG, Gui X, Kone L, Maker AV, Qiao G, Reddi D, Church DN, Kerr RS, Kerr DJ, Grippo PJ, Jung B. Non-Canonical Activin A Signaling Stimulates Context-Dependent and Cellular-Specific Outcomes in CRC to Promote Tumor Cell Migration and Immune Tolerance. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:3003. [PMID: 37296966 PMCID: PMC10252122 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15113003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2023] [Revised: 05/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/29/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023] Open
Abstract
We have shown that activin A (activin), a TGF-β superfamily member, has pro-metastatic effects in colorectal cancer (CRC). In lung cancer, activin activates pro-metastatic pathways to enhance tumor cell survival and migration while augmenting CD4+ to CD8+ communications to promote cytotoxicity. Here, we hypothesized that activin exerts cell-specific effects in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of CRC to promote anti-tumoral activity of immune cells and the pro-metastatic behavior of tumor cells in a cell-specific and context-dependent manner. We generated an Smad4 epithelial cell specific knockout (Smad4-/-) which was crossed with TS4-Cre mice to identify SMAD-specific changes in CRC. We also performed IHC and digital spatial profiling (DSP) of tissue microarrays (TMAs) obtained from 1055 stage II and III CRC patients in the QUASAR 2 clinical trial. We transfected the CRC cells to reduce their activin production and injected them into mice with intermittent tumor measurements to determine how cancer-derived activin alters tumor growth in vivo. In vivo, Smad4-/- mice displayed elevated colonic activin and pAKT expression and increased mortality. IHC analysis of the TMA samples revealed increased activin was required for TGF-β-associated improved outcomes in CRC. DSP analysis identified that activin co-localization in the stroma was coupled with increases in T-cell exhaustion markers, activation markers of antigen presenting cells (APCs), and effectors of the PI3K/AKT pathway. Activin-stimulated PI3K-dependent CRC transwell migration, and the in vivo loss of activin lead to smaller CRC tumors. Taken together, activin is a targetable, highly context-dependent molecule with effects on CRC growth, migration, and TME immune plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark B. Wiley
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; (M.B.W.); (K.M.)
| | - Jessica Bauer
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; (M.B.W.); (K.M.)
| | - Kunaal Mehrotra
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; (M.B.W.); (K.M.)
| | - Jasmin Zessner-Spitzenberg
- Clinical Department for Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Zoe Kolics
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; (M.B.W.); (K.M.)
| | - Wenxuan Cheng
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; (M.B.W.); (K.M.)
| | - Karla Castellanos
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
| | - Michael G. Nash
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Xianyong Gui
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Lyonell Kone
- Department of Surgery, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
| | - Ajay V. Maker
- Department of Surgery, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA
| | - Guilin Qiao
- Department of Surgery, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA
| | - Deepti Reddi
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - David N. Church
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 4BH, UK
- NIHR Oxford Comprehensive Biomedical Research Center, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 4BH, UK
| | - Rachel S. Kerr
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 4BH, UK
| | - David J. Kerr
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 4BH, UK
| | - Paul J. Grippo
- Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
| | - Barbara Jung
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; (M.B.W.); (K.M.)
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Diet-Induced Gut Barrier Dysfunction Is Exacerbated in Mice Lacking Cannabinoid 1 Receptors in the Intestinal Epithelium. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms231810549. [PMID: 36142461 PMCID: PMC9504303 DOI: 10.3390/ijms231810549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Revised: 08/23/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The gut barrier provides protection from pathogens and its function is compromised in diet-induced obesity (DIO). The endocannabinoid system in the gut is dysregulated in DIO and participates in gut barrier function; however, whether its activity is protective or detrimental for gut barrier integrity is unclear. We used mice conditionally deficient in cannabinoid receptor subtype-1 (CB1R) in the intestinal epithelium (intCB1−/−) to test the hypothesis that CB1Rs in intestinal epithelial cells provide protection from diet-induced gut barrier dysfunction. Control and intCB1−/− mice were placed for eight weeks on a high-fat/sucrose Western-style diet (WD) or a low-fat/no-sucrose diet. Endocannabinoid levels and activity of their metabolic enzymes were measured in the large-intestinal epithelium (LI). Paracellular permeability was tested in vivo, and expression of genes for gut barrier components and inflammatory markers were analyzed. Mice fed WD had (i) reduced levels of endocannabinoids in the LI due to lower activity of their biosynthetic enzymes, and (ii) increased permeability that was exacerbated in intCB1−/− mice. Moreover, intCB1−/− mice fed WD had decreased expression of genes for tight junction proteins and increased expression of inflammatory markers in LI. These results suggest that CB1Rs in the intestinal epithelium serve a protective role in gut barrier function in DIO.
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