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Tang Y, Cui G, Liu H, Han Y, Cai C, Feng Z, Shen H, Zeng S. Converting "cold" to "hot": epigenetics strategies to improve immune therapy effect by regulating tumor-associated immune suppressive cells. Cancer Commun (Lond) 2024; 44:601-636. [PMID: 38715348 PMCID: PMC11194457 DOI: 10.1002/cac2.12546] [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: 11/13/2023] [Revised: 04/09/2024] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 06/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Significant developments in cancer treatment have been made since the advent of immune therapies. However, there are still some patients with malignant tumors who do not benefit from immunotherapy. Tumors without immunogenicity are called "cold" tumors which are unresponsive to immunotherapy, and the opposite are "hot" tumors. Immune suppressive cells (ISCs) refer to cells which can inhibit the immune response such as tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), regulatory T (Treg) cells and so on. The more ISCs infiltrated, the weaker the immunogenicity of the tumor, showing the characteristics of "cold" tumor. The dysfunction of ISCs in the tumor microenvironment (TME) may play essential roles in insensitive therapeutic reaction. Previous studies have found that epigenetic mechanisms play an important role in the regulation of ISCs. Regulating ISCs may be a new approach to transforming "cold" tumors into "hot" tumors. Here, we focused on the function of ISCs in the TME and discussed how epigenetics is involved in regulating ISCs. In addition, we summarized the mechanisms by which the epigenetic drugs convert immunotherapy-insensitive tumors into immunotherapy-sensitive tumors which would be an innovative tendency for future immunotherapy in "cold" tumor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yijia Tang
- Department of OncologyXiangya HospitalCentral South UniversityChangshaHunanP. R. China
| | - Guangzu Cui
- Department of OncologyXiangya HospitalCentral South UniversityChangshaHunanP. R. China
| | - Haicong Liu
- Department of OncologyXiangya HospitalCentral South UniversityChangshaHunanP. R. China
| | - Ying Han
- Department of OncologyXiangya HospitalCentral South UniversityChangshaHunanP. R. China
| | - Changjing Cai
- Department of OncologyXiangya HospitalCentral South UniversityChangshaHunanP. R. China
| | - Ziyang Feng
- Department of OncologyXiangya HospitalCentral South UniversityChangshaHunanP. R. China
| | - Hong Shen
- Department of OncologyXiangya HospitalCentral South UniversityChangshaHunanP. R. China
- National Clinical Resaerch Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South UniversityChangshaHunanChina
| | - Shan Zeng
- Department of OncologyXiangya HospitalCentral South UniversityChangshaHunanP. R. China
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Lei J, Zhao J, Long MYC, Cao XW, Wang FJ. In addition to its endosomal escape effect, platycodin D also synergizes with ribosomal inactivation protein to induce apoptosis in hepatoma cells through AKT and MAPK signaling pathways. Chem Biol Interact 2022; 364:110058. [PMID: 35872048 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbi.2022.110058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2022] [Revised: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 07/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Efficient endosomal escape after cellular uptake is a major challenge for the clinical application of therapeutic proteins. To overcome this obstacle, several strategies have been used to help protein drugs escape from endosomes without affecting the integrity of the cell membrane. Among them, some triterpenoid saponins with special structures were used to greatly enhance the anti-tumor therapeutic effect of protein toxins. Herein, we demonstrated that platycodin D (PD), polygalacin D (PGD) and platycodin D2 (PD2) from Platycodonis Radix significantly enhanced the ability of MHBP (a type I ribosome-inactivating protein toxin MAP30 fused with a cell-penetrating peptide HBP) to induce apoptosis in hepatoma cells. Based on the results of co-localization of endocytosed EGFP-HBP with a lysosomal probe and Galectin-9 vesicle membrane damage sensor, we demonstrated that PD, PGD and PD2 have the ability to promote endosomal escape of endocytic proteins without affecting the integrity of the plasma membrane. Meanwhile, we observed that cholesterol metabolism plays an important role in the activity of PD by RNA-seq analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis, and confirm that PD, PGD and PD2 enhance the anti-tumor activity of MHBP by inducing the redistribution of free cholesterol and inhibiting the activity of cathepsin B and cathepsin D. Finally, we found that PD synergized with MHBP to induce caspase-dependent apoptosis through inhibiting Akt and ERK1/2 signaling pathways and activating JNK and p38 MAPK signaling pathways. This study provides new insights into the application of PD in cancer therapy and provides efficient and promising strategies for the cytosolic delivery of therapeutic proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jin Lei
- Department of Applied Biology, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, China
| | - Jian Zhao
- Department of Applied Biology, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, China; State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, China
| | - Meng-Yi-Chen Long
- Department of Applied Biology, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, China
| | - Xue-Wei Cao
- Department of Applied Biology, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, China.
| | - Fu-Jun Wang
- New Drug R&D Center, Zhejiang Fonow Medicine Co., Ltd. 209 West Hulian Road, Dongyang, 322100, Zhejiang, China; Shanghai R&D Center for Standardization of Chinese Medicines, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China; Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cailun Road, Shanghai, 201203, China.
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