HCA587 Protein Vaccine Induces Specific Antitumor Immunity Mediated by CD4+ T-cells Expressing Granzyme B in a Mouse Model of Melanoma

The quest for nanoparticle-powered vaccines in cancer immunotherapy

Despite recent advancements in cancer treatment, this disease still poses a serious threat to public health. Vaccines play an important role in preventing illness by preparing the body's adaptive and innate immune responses to combat diseases. As our understanding of malignancies and their connection to the immune system improves, there has been a growing interest in priming the immune system to fight malignancies more effectively and comprehensively. One promising approach involves utilizing nanoparticle systems for antigen delivery, which has been shown to potentiate immune responses as vaccines and/or adjuvants. In this review, we comprehensively summarized the immunological mechanisms of cancer vaccines while focusing specifically on the recent applications of various types of nanoparticles in the field of cancer immunotherapy. By exploring these recent breakthroughs, we hope to identify significant challenges and obstacles in making nanoparticle-based vaccines and adjuvants feasible for clinical application. This review serves to assess recent breakthroughs in nanoparticle-based cancer vaccinations and shed light on their prospects and potential barriers. By doing so, we aim to inspire future immunotherapies for cancer that harness the potential of nanotechnology to deliver more effective and targeted treatments.

Tumor vaccines: Toward multidimensional anti-tumor therapies

For decades, immunotherapies have offered hope for patients with advanced cancer. However, they show distinct benefits and limited clinical effects. Tumor vaccines have the potential to prime tumor-antigen-specific T cells and induce broad subsets of immune responses, ultimately eradicating tumor cells. Here, we classify tumor vaccines by their anti-tumor mechanisms, which include boosting the immune system, overcoming tumor immunosuppression, and modulating tumor angiogenesis. We focus on multidimensional tumor vaccine strategies using combinations of two or three of the above mechanisms, as these are superior to single-dimensional treatments. This review offers a perspective on tumor vaccine strategies and the future role of vaccine therapies in cancer treatment.

Extracellular Vesicles-Based Cell-Cell Communication in Melanoma: New Perspectives in Diagnostics and Therapy

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a heterogeneous group of cell-secreted particles that carry cargo of functional biomolecules crucial for cell-to-cell communication with both physiological and pathophysiological consequences. In this review, we focus on evidence demonstrating that the EV-mediated crosstalk between melanoma cells within tumor, between melanoma cells and immune and stromal cells, promotes immune evasion and influences all steps of melanoma development from local progression, pre-metastatic niche formation, to metastatic colonization of distant organs. We also discuss the role of EVs in the development of resistance to immunotherapy and therapy with BRAF^V600/MEK inhibitors, and shortly summarize the recent advances on the potential applications of EVs in melanoma diagnostics and therapy.

TIM-3 shuttled by MV3 cells-secreted exosomes inhibits CD4+ T cell immune function and induces macrophage M2 polarization to promote the growth and metastasis of melanoma cells

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MV3-Exo inhibits CD4⁺ t cell immune function and induces M2-polarized macrophages.

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TIM-3 is upregulated in MV3 cells-secreted exosomes.

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TIM-3 inhibits CD4⁺ t cell immune function and induces M2-polarized macrophages.

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TIM-3 shuttled by MV3-Exo promotes growth and metastasis of melanoma.

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The study unveiled a protective target against metastasis of melanoma.

This study is sought to determine the physiological mechanisms by which exosomes-encapsulated TIM-3 derived from melanoma cells might mediate CD4⁺ T cell immune function and macrophage M2 polarization in melanoma. Initially, exosomes were isolated from the human skin-derived melanoma cell line MV3for analysis of TIM-3 expression pattern. Next, the exosomes sourced from MV3 cells manipulated with sh-TIM-3 were co-incubated with CD4⁺ T cells to detect CD4⁺ T cell proliferation and MV3 cell migration and invasion, to observe the macrophage M2 polarization, and to determine levels of several EMT-related factors. Finally, melanoma nude mouse models were established to study the in vivo modulatory effects of TIM-3 from MV3 cells-derived exosomes. MV3 cells-derived exosomes inhibited CD4⁺ T cell immune function and promoted macrophage M2 polarization in melanoma. Our results revealed the abundance of TIM-3 in MV3 cells-derived exosomes. Of importance, silencing of TIM-3 shuttled by MV3 cells-derived exosomes improved CD4⁺ T cell immune function and inhibited macrophage M2 polarization to attenuate the growth and metastasis of melanoma cells. Collectively, MV3 cells-derived exosomes-loaded TIM-3 suppressed CD4⁺ T cell immune function and induced macrophage M2 polarization to improve occurrence and development of melanoma, therefore providing us with a potential therapeutic target for effectively combating melanoma.

Granzyme family acts as a predict biomarker in cutaneous melanoma and indicates more benefit from anti-PD-1 immunotherapy

The incidence of cutaneous melanoma (CM) increased since the 1970s, and also along with an unfavorable prognosis. CM patients have been verified benefits from immunotherapy, and granzymes (GZMs) comprise more than 90% of the cytolytic granules secreted by cytotoxic T lymphocytes and nature killer cell. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the prognostic value of GZMs in CM. A total of 633 CM patients was enrolled to access the prognostic value of GZMs. The integrated prognostic value of five GZMs was validated in TCGA-SKCM, GSE65904, GSE53118, GSE19234 and GSE22153 cohorts. GZMscore, age, Breslow's depth and tumor stage are the independent risk factors for CM patients, risk score based on these factors was calculated in TCGA-SKCM and GSE65906 cohorts, which could polarize the CM patients to high- and low-risk groups with diverse prognosis. Patients in low-risk group obtained the activated immune signaling pathways and response, especially for the activated CD8+ T cells, and could benefit more from anti-PD-1 therapy. A higher tumor mutation burden was observed in low-risk group, especially for the mutation of BRAF. The protect function of GZMK was confirmed by CM cell lines, overexpression of GZMK in A375 and G361 cells suppresses cell proliferation, migration, but not cell apoptosis. All in all, we revealed the prognostic value of GZMs in CM patients, which could also act as a predicted value for the selection of responders of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.