MAP4K4 negatively regulates CD8 T cell-mediated antitumor and antiviral immunity

Unlocking Immunity: Innovative prostate cancer vaccine strategies

OBJECTIVE

Prostate Cancer (PCa) is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality in men, especially in Western societies. The objective of this research is to address the unmet need for effective treatments in advanced or recurrent PCa, where current strategies fall short of offering a cure. The focus is on leveraging immunotherapy and cancer vaccines to target the tumor's unique immunological microenvironment.

MAIN RESULTS

Despite immunotherapy's success in other cancers, its effectiveness in PCa has been limited by the tumor's immunosuppressive characteristics. However, cancer vaccines that engage Tumor-Specific Antigens (TSA) and Tumor-Associated Antigens (TAA) have emerged as a promising approach. Preclinical and clinical investigations of Dendritic Cell (DC) vaccines, DNA vaccines, mRNA vaccines, peptide vaccines, and viral vectors have shown their potential to elicit anti-tumor immune responses. The exploration of combination therapies with immune checkpoint inhibitors and the advent of novel adjuvants and oral microparticle vaccines present innovative strategies to improve efficacy and compliance.

CONCLUSION

The development of cancer vaccines for PCa holds significant potential. Future directions include optimizing vaccine design, refining combination therapy strategies, and creating patient-friendly administration methods. The integration of interdisciplinary knowledge and innovative clinical trial designs is essential for advancing personalized and precision immunotherapy for PCa.

Harnessing genetic interactions for prediction of immune checkpoint inhibitors response signature in cancer cells

Genetic interactions (GIs) refer to two altered genes having a combined effect that is not seen individually. They play a crucial role in influencing drug efficacy. We utilized CGIdb 2.0 (http://www.medsysbio.org/CGIdb2/), an updated database of comprehensively published GIs information, encompassing synthetic lethality (SL), synthetic viability (SV), and chemical-genetic interactions. CGIdb 2.0 elucidates GIs relationships between or within protein complex models by integrating protein-protein physical interactions. Additionally, we introduced GENIUS (GENetic Interactions mediated drUg Signature) to leverage GIs for identifying the response signature of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). GENIUS identified high MAP4K4 expression as a resistant signature and high HERC4 expression as a sensitive signature for ICIs treatment. Melanoma patients with high expression of MAP4K4 were associated with decreased efficacy and poorer survival following ICIs treatment. Conversely, overexpression of HERC4 in melanoma patients correlated with a positive response to ICIs. Notably, HERC4 enhances sensitivity to immunotherapy by facilitating antigen presentation. Analyses of immune cell infiltration and single-cell data revealed that B cells expressing MAP4K4 may contribute to resistance to ICIs in melanoma. Overall, CGIdb 2.0, provides integrated GIs data, thus serving as a crucial tool for exploring drug effects.

Current strategies for targeting HPK1 in cancer and the barriers to preclinical progress

INTRODUCTION

Hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1), a 97-kDa serine/threonine Ste20-related protein kinase, functions as an intracellular negative regulator, primarily in hematopoietic lineage cells, where it regulates T cells, B cells, dendritic cells, and other immune cells. Loss of HPK1 kinase activity results in exacerbated cytokine secretion, enhanced T cell signaling, improved viral clearance, and thus increased restraint of tumor growth. These findings highlight HPK1 as a promising target for immuno-oncology treatments, culminating in the advancement of candidate compounds targeting HPK1 to clinical trials by several biotech enterprises.

AREAS COVERED

Through searching PubMed, Espacenet-patent search, and clinicaltrials.gov, this review provides a comprehensive analysis of HPK1, encompassing its structure and roles in various downstream signaling pathways, the consequences of constitutive activation of HPK1, and potential therapeutic strategies to treat HPK1-driven malignancies. Moreover, the review outlines the patents issued for small molecule inhibitors and clinical investigations of HPK1.

EXPERT OPINION

To enhance the success of tumor immunotherapy in clinical trials, it is important to develop protein degraders, allosteric inhibitors, and antibody-drug conjugates based on the crystal structure of HPK1, and to explore combination therapy approaches. Although several challenges remain, the development of HPK1 inhibitors display promising in preclinical and clinical studies.

Dichotomous role of the serine/threonine kinase MAP4K4 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma onset and metastasis through control of AKT and ERK pathways

MAP4K4 is a serine/threonine kinase of the STE20 family involved in the regulation of actin cytoskeleton dynamics and cell motility. It has been proposed as a target of angiogenesis and inhibitors show potential in cardioprotection. MAP4K4 also mediates cell invasion in vitro, is overexpressed in various types of cancer, and is associated with poor patient prognosis. Recently, MAP4K4 has been shown to be overexpressed in pancreatic cancer, but its role in tumour initiation, progression, and metastasis is unknown. Here, using the KrasG12D Trp53R172H Pdx1-Cre (KPC) mouse model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), we show that deletion of Map4k4 drives tumour initiation and progression. Moreover, we report that the acceleration of tumour onset is also associated with an overactivation of ERK and AKT, two major downstream effectors of KRAS, in vitro and in vivo. In contrast to the accelerated tumour onset caused by loss of MAP4K4, we observed a reduction in metastatic burden with both the KPC model and in an intraperitoneal transplant assay indicating a major role of MAP4K4 in metastatic seeding. In summary, our study sheds light on the dichotomous role of MAP4K4 in the initiation of PDAC onset, progression, and metastatic dissemination. It also identifies MAP4K4 as a possible druggable target against pancreatic cancer spread, but with the caveat that targeting MAP4K4 might accelerate early tumorigenesis. © 2024 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy-induced remodeling of human hormonal receptor-positive breast cancer revealed by single-cell RNA sequencing

Hormone receptor-positive breast cancer (HR+ BC) is known to be relatively insensitive to chemotherapy, and since chemotherapy has remained the major neoadjuvant therapy for HR+ BC, the undetermined mechanism of chemoresistance and how chemotherapy reshapes the immune microenvironment need to be explored by high-throughput technology. By using single-cell RNA sequencing and multiplexed immunofluorescence staining analysis of HR+ BC samples (paired pre- and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC)), the levels of previously unrecognized immune cell subsets, including CD8+ T cells with pronounced expression of T-cell development (LMNA) and cytotoxicity (FGFBP2) markers, CD4+ T cells characterized by proliferation marker (ATP1B3) expression and macrophages characterized by CD52 expression, were found to be increased post-NAC, which were predictive of chemosensitivity and their antitumor function was also validated with in vitro experiments. In terms of immune checkpoint expression of CD8+ T cells, we found their changes were inconsistent post-NAC, that LAG3, VSIR were decreased, and PDCD1, HAVCR2, CTLA4, KLRC1 and BTLA were increased. In addition, we have identified novel genomic and transcriptional patterns of chemoresistant cancer cells, both innate and acquired, and have confirmed their prognostic value with TCGA cohorts. By shedding light on the ecosystem of HR+ BC reshaped by chemotherapy, our results uncover valuable candidates for predicting chemosensitivity and overcoming chemoresistance in HR+ BC.

TIM-3, LAG-3, or 2B4 gene disruptions increase the anti-tumor response of engineered T cells

Background

In adoptive T cell therapy, the long term therapeutic benefits in patients treated with engineered tumor specific T cells are limited by the lack of long term persistence of the infused cellular products and by the immunosuppressive mechanisms active in the tumor microenvironment. Exhausted T cells infiltrating the tumor are characterized by loss of effector functions triggered by multiple inhibitory receptors (IRs). In patients, IR blockade reverts T cell exhaustion but has low selectivity, potentially unleashing autoreactive clones and resulting in clinical autoimmune side effects. Furthermore, loss of long term protective immunity in cell therapy has been ascribed to the effector memory phenotype of the infused cells.

Methods

We simultaneously redirected T cell specificity towards the NY-ESO-1 antigen via TCR gene editing (TCRED) and permanently disrupted LAG3, TIM-3 or 2B4 genes (IRKO) via CRISPR/Cas9 in a protocol to expand early differentiated long-living memory stem T cells. The effector functions of the TCRED-IRKO and IR competent (TCRED-IRCOMP) cells were tested in short-term co-culture assays and under a chronic stimulation setting in vitro. Finally, the therapeutic efficacy of the developed cellular products were evaluated in multiple myeloma xenograft models.

Results

We show that upon chronic stimulation, TCRED-IRKO cells are superior to TCRED-IRCOMP cells in resisting functional exhaustion through different mechanisms and efficiently eliminate cancer cells upon tumor re-challenge in vivo. Our data indicate that TIM-3 and 2B4-disruption preserve T-cell degranulation capacity, while LAG-3 disruption prevents the upregulation of additional inhibitory receptors in T cells.

Conclusion

These results highlight that TIM-3, LAG-3, and 2B4 disruptions increase the therapeutic benefit of tumor specific cellular products and suggest distinct, non-redundant roles for IRs in anti-tumor responses.

Exploration of Diagnostic Markers Associated with Inflammation in Chronic Kidney Disease Based on WGCNA and Machine Learning

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common disorder related to inflammatory pathways; its effective management remains limited. This study aimed to use bioinformatics analysis to find diagnostic markers that might be therapeutic targets for CKD. CKD microarray datasets were screened from the GEO database and the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in CKD dataset GSE98603 were analyzed. Gene set variation analysis (GSVA) was used to explore the activity scores of the inflammatory pathways and samples. Algorithms such as weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and Lasso were used to screen CKD diagnostic markers related to inflammation. Then functional enrichment analysis of inflammation-related DEGs was performed. ROC curves were conducted to examine the diagnostic value of inflammation-related hub-genes. Lastly, quantitative real-time PCR further verified the prediction of bioinformatics. A total of 71 inflammation-related DEGs were obtained, of which 5 were hub genes. Enrichment analysis showed that these genes were significantly enriched in inflammation-related pathways (NF-κB, JAK-STAT, and MAPK signaling pathways). ROC curves showed that the 5 CKD diagnostic markers (TIGD7, ACTA2, ACTG2, MAP4K4, and HOXA11) also exhibited good diagnostic value. In addition, TIGD7, ACTA2, ACTG2, and HOXA11 expression was downregulated while MAP4K4 expression was upregulated in LPS-induced HK-2 cells. The present study identified TIGD7, ACTA2, ACTG2, MAP4K4, and HOXA11 as reliable CKD diagnostic markers, thereby providing a basis for further understanding of CKD in clinical treatments.

MAP4K4 and cancer: ready for the main stage?

MAP4K4 is a serine/threonine kinase that belongs to the MAP kinase family and plays a critical role in embryogenesis and cellular migration. It contains approximately 1,200 amino acids and has a molecular mass of 140 kDa. MAP4K4 is expressed in most tissues where it has been examined and its knockout is embryonic lethal due to impaired somite development. Alterations in MAP4K4 function have a central role in the development of many metabolic diseases such as atherosclerosis and type 2 diabetes, but have recently been implicated in the initiation and progression of cancer. For example, it has been shown that MAP4K4 can stimulate the proliferation and invasion of tumor cells by activating pro-proliferative pathways (such as the c-Jun N-terminal kinase [JNK] and mixed-lineage protein kinase 3 [MLK3] pathways), attenuate anti-tumor cytotoxic immune responses, and stimulate cell invasion and migration by altering cytoskeleton and actin function. Recent in vitro experiments using RNA interference-based knockdown (miR) techniques have shown that inhibition of MAP4K4 function reduces tumor proliferation, migration, and invasion, and may represent a promising therapeutic approach in many types of cancer such as pancreatic cancer, glioblastoma, and medulloblastoma, among others. Over the last few years, specific MAP4K4 inhibitors such as GNE-495 have been developed but have not yet been tested in cancer patients. However, these novel agents may be useful for cancer treatment in the future.

Abrogation of MAP4K4 protein function causes congenital anomalies in humans and zebrafish

We report 21 families displaying neurodevelopmental differences and multiple congenital anomalies while bearing a series of rare variants in mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase kinase 4 (MAP4K4). MAP4K4 has been implicated in many signaling pathways including c-Jun N-terminal and RAS kinases and is currently under investigation as a druggable target for multiple disorders. Using several zebrafish models, we demonstrate that these human variants are either loss-of-function or dominant-negative alleles and show that decreasing Map4k4 activity causes developmental defects. Furthermore, MAP4K4 can restrain hyperactive RAS signaling in early embryonic stages. Together, our data demonstrate that MAP4K4 negatively regulates RAS signaling in the early embryo and that variants identified in affected humans abrogate its function, establishing MAP4K4 as a causal locus for individuals with syndromic neurodevelopmental differences.

Molecular Insights of MAP4K4 Signaling in Inflammatory and Malignant Diseases

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are crucial in extracellular signal transduction to cellular responses. The classical three-tiered MAPK cascades include signaling through MAP kinase kinase kinase (MAP3K) that activates a MAP kinase kinase (MAP2K), which in turn induces MAPK activation and downstream cellular responses. The upstream activators of MAP3K are often small guanosine-5'-triphosphate (GTP)-binding proteins, but in some pathways, MAP3K can be activated by another kinase, which is known as a MAP kinase kinase kinase kinase (MAP4K). MAP4K4 is one of the widely studied MAP4K members, known to play a significant role in inflammatory, cardiovascular, and malignant diseases. The MAP4K4 signal transduction plays an essential role in cell proliferation, transformation, invasiveness, adhesiveness, inflammation, stress responses, and cell migration. Overexpression of MAP4K4 is frequently reported in many cancers, including glioblastoma, colon, prostate, and pancreatic cancers. Besides its mainstay pro-survival role in various malignancies, MAP4K4 has been implicated in cancer-associated cachexia. In the present review, we discuss the functional role of MAP4K4 in malignant/non-malignant diseases and cancer-associated cachexia and its possible use in targeted therapy.

MAP4K4 promotes ovarian cancer metastasis through diminishing ADAM10-dependent N-cadherin cleavage

Peritoneal metastasis is a key feature of advanced ovarian cancer, but the critical protein required for ovarian cancer metastasis and progression is yet to be defined. Thus, an unbiased high throughput and in-depth study is warranted to unmask the mechanism. Transcriptomic sequencing of paired primary ovarian tumors and metastases unveiled that MAP4K4, a serine/threonine kinase belongs to the Ste20 family of kinases, was highly expressed in metastatic sites. Increased MAP4K4 expression in metastasis was further validated in other independent patients, with higher MAP4K4 expression associated with poorer survival, higher level of CA125 and more advanced FIGO stage. Down regulation of MAP4K4 inhibited cancer cell adhesion, migration, and invasion. Notably, MAP4K4 was found to stabilize N-cadherin. Further results showed that MAP4K4 mediated phosphorylation of ADAM10 at Ser436 results in suppression of N-cadherin cleavage by ADAM10, leading to N-cadherin stabilization. Pharmacologic inhibition of MAP4K4 abrogated peritoneal metastases. Overall, our data reveal MAP4K4 as a significant promoter in ovarian cancer metastasis. Targeting MAP4K4 may be a potential therapeutic approach for ovarian cancer patients.

Bioinformatics and Experimental Analyses Reveal MAP4K4 as a Potential Marker for Gastric Cancer

Background: Gastric cancer remains the most prevalent and highly lethal disease worldwide. MAP4K4, a member of Ste20, plays an important role in various pathologies, including cancer. However, its role in gastric cancer is not yet fully elucidated. Therefore, this study aims to determine the tumor-promoting role of MAP4K4 in gastric cancer and whether it can be used as a new and reliable biomarker to predict the prognosis of gastric cancer. For this purpose, we divide the samples into high- and low-expression groups according to the expression level of MAP4K4. The association of MAP4K4 expression with prognosis is assessed using the Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Furthermore, immune infiltration analysis using ESTIMATE is conducted to evaluate the tumor immune scores of the samples. Results: The findings reveal a significantly higher expression of MAP4K4 in tumor samples than in adjacent samples. The high-expression group was significantly enriched in tumor-related pathways, such as the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. In addition, immune infiltration analysis revealed a positive correlation between immune scores and MAP4K4 expression. We also observed that miRNAs, such as miR-192-3p (R = −0.317, p-value 3.111 × 10⁻⁹), miR-33b-5p (R= −0.238, p-value 1.166 × 10⁻⁵), and miR-582-3p (R = −0.214, p-value 8.430 × 10⁻⁵), had potential negative regulatory effects on MAP4K4. Moreover, we identified several transcription factors, ubiquitinated proteins, and interacting proteins that might regulate MAP4K4. The relationship between MAP4K4 and DNA methylation was also identified. Finally, we verified the high expression of MAP4K4 and its effect on promoting cancer. Conclusion: MAP4K4 might be closely related to gastric cancer’s progression, invasion, and metastasis. Its high expression negatively impacts the prognosis of gastric cancer patients. This suggests MAP4K4 as an important prognostic factor for gastric cancer and could be regarded as a new potential prognostic detection and therapeutic target.

LFA-1 in T cell priming, differentiation, and effector functions

The integrin LFA-1 is crucial for T cell entry into mammalian lymph nodes and tissues, and for promoting interactions with antigen-presenting cells (APCs). However, it is increasingly evident that LFA-1 has additional key roles beyond the mere support of adhesion between T cells, the endothelium, and/or APCs. These include roles in homotypic T cell-T cell (T-T) communication, the induction of intracellular complement activity underlying Th1 effector cell polarization, and the support of long-lasting T cell memory. Here, we briefly summarize current knowledge of LFA-1 biology, discuss novel cytoskeletal regulators of LFA-1 functions, and review new aspects of LFA-1 mechanobiology that are relevant to its function in immunological synapses and in specific pathologies arising from LFA-1 dysregulation.

T-Cell Adhesion in Healthy and Inflamed Skin

The diverse populations of tissue-resident and transitory T cells present in the skin share a common functional need to enter, traverse, and interact with their environment. These processes are largely dependent on the regulated expression of adhesion molecules, such as selectins and integrins, which mediate bidirectional interactions between immune cells and skin stroma. Dysregulation and engagement of adhesion pathways contribute to ectopic T-cell activity in tissues, leading to the initiation and/or exacerbation of chronic inflammation. In this paper, we review how the molecular interactions supported by adhesion pathways contribute to T-cell dynamics and function in the skin. A comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning T-cell adhesion in inflammatory skin disorders will facilitate the development of novel tissue-specific therapeutic strategies.

Moesin as a prognostic indicator of lung adenocarcinoma improves prognosis by enhancing immune lymphocyte infiltration

BACKGROUND

Ezrin-radixin-moesin (ERM) have been explored in many cancer processes. Moesin, as its component, has also been found to play an important role in the prognosis of cancer patients, tumor metastasis, drug resistance, and others. Especially in regulating the immunity, but most results came from direct studies on immune cells, there is no clear conclusion on whether moesin has similar effects in tumor cells. And moesin has certain research results in many cancers in other aspects, but there are few about moesin in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).

METHODS

We detect the expression of moesin in 82 LUAD and matched normal tissue samples by immunohistochemistry. Besides, for the pathological feature, we did a detailed statistical analysis. And with the help of various databases, we have done in-depth exploration of moesin's ability to enhance the extent of immune lymphocyte infiltration.

RESULTS

Moesin is a poor expression in lung cancer tissues than the corresponding normal samples. And this phenomenon had a strongly associated with the prognosis and TNM stage of these LUAD patients. Moesin can enhance the infiltration of multiple immune lymphocytes in lung cancer. And this may be related to the interaction between moesin and various inflammatory molecules.

CONCLUSIONS

Moesin is a newly index for the prognosis of LUAD and improves the prognosis of LUAD patients by regulating a variety of inflammation-related molecules to enhance immune lymphocytes infiltration.

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.

Dendritic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle Adjuvants Modified with Binuclear Aluminum Complex: Coordination Chemistry Dictates Adjuvanticity

Aluminum-containing adjuvants used in vaccine formulations suffer from low cellular immunity, severe aggregation, and accumulation in the brain. Conventional aluminosilicates widely used in the chemical industry focus mainly on acidic sites for catalytic applications, but they are rarely used as adjuvants. Reported here is an innovative "ligand-assisted steric hindrance" strategy to create a high density of six-coordinate ^VI Al-OH groups with basicity on dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles as new nanoadjuvants. Compared to four-coordinate ^IV Al-modified counterparts, ^VI Al-OH-rich aluminosilicate nanoadjuvants enhance cellular delivery of antigens and provoke stronger cellular immunity. Moreover, the aluminum accumulation in the brain is more reduced than that with a commercial adjuvant. These results show that coordination chemistry can be used to control the adjuvanticity, providing new understanding in the development of next-generation vaccine adjuvants.

Selective protection of human cardiomyocytes from anthracycline cardiotoxicity by small molecule inhibitors of MAP4K4

Given the poor track record to date of animal models for creating cardioprotective drugs, human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) have been proposed as a therapeutically relevant human platform to guide target validation and cardiac drug development. Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinase Kinase Kinase-4 (MAP4K4) is an “upstream” member of the MAPK superfamily that is implicated in human cardiac muscle cell death from oxidative stress, based on gene silencing and pharmacological inhibition in hPSC-CMs. A further role for MAP4K4 was proposed in heart muscle cell death triggered by cardiotoxic anti-cancer drugs, given its reported activation in failing human hearts with doxorubicin (DOX) cardiomyopathy, and its activation acutely by DOX in cultured cardiomyocytes. Here, we report successful protection from DOX in two independent hPSC-CM lines, using two potent, highly selective MAP4K4 inhibitors. The MAP4K4 inhibitors enhanced viability and reduced apoptosis at otherwise lethal concentrations of DOX, and preserved cardiomyocyte function, as measured by spontaneous calcium transients, at sub-maximal ones. Notably, in contrast, no intereference was seen in tumor cell killing, caspase activation, or mitochondrial membrane dissipation by DOX, in human cancer cell lines. Thus, MAP4K4 is a plausible, tractable, selective therapeutic target in DOX-induced human heart muscle cell death.