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Wessel RE, Ageeb N, Obeid JM, Mauldin I, Goundry KA, Hanson GF, Hossain M, Lehman C, Gentzler RD, Wages NA, Slingluff CL, Bullock TNJ, Dolatshahi S, Brown MG. Spatial colocalization and combined survival benefit of natural killer and CD8 T cells despite profound MHC class I loss in non-small cell lung cancer. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.02.20.581048. [PMID: 38979183 PMCID: PMC11230195 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.20.581048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/10/2024]
Abstract
Background MHC class I (MHC-I) loss is frequent in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) rendering tumor cells resistant to T cell lysis. NK cells kill MHC-I-deficient tumor cells, and although previous work indicated their presence at NSCLC margins, they were functionally impaired. Within, we evaluated whether NK cell and CD8 T cell infiltration and activation vary with MHC-I expression. Methods We used single-stain immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Kaplan-Meier analysis to test the effect of NK cell and CD8 T cell infiltration on overall and disease-free survival. To delineate immune covariates of MHC-I-disparate lung cancers, we used multiplexed immunofluorescence (mIF) imaging followed by multivariate statistical modeling. To identify differences in infiltration and intercellular communication between IFNγ-activated and non-activated lymphocytes, we developed a computational pipeline to enumerate single cell neighborhoods from mIF images followed by multivariate discriminant analysis. Results Spatial quantitation of tumor cell MHC-I expression revealed intra- and inter-tumoral heterogeneity, which was associated with the local lymphocyte landscape. IHC analysis revealed that high CD56+ cell numbers in patient tumors were positively associated with disease-free survival (DFS) (HR=0.58, p=0.064) and overall survival (OS) (HR=0.496, p=0.041). The OS association strengthened with high counts of both CD56+ and CD8+ cells (HR=0.199, p<1×10-3). mIF imaging and multivariate discriminant analysis revealed enrichment of both CD3+CD8+ T cells and CD3-CD56+ NK cells in MHC-I-bearing tumors (p<0.05). To infer associations of functional cell states and local cell-cell communication, we analyzed spatial single cell neighborhood profiles to delineate the cellular environments of IFNγ+/- NK cells and T cells. We discovered that both IFNγ+ NK and CD8 T cells were more frequently associated with other IFNγ+ lymphocytes in comparison to IFNγ- NK cells and CD8 T cells (p<1×10-30). Moreover, IFNγ+ lymphocytes were most often found clustered near MHC-I+ tumor cells. Conclusions Tumor-infiltrating NK cells and CD8 T cells jointly affected control of NSCLC tumor progression. Co-association of NK and CD8 T cells was most evident in MHC-I-bearing tumors, especially in the presence of IFNγ. Frequent co-localization of IFNγ+ NK cells with other IFNγ+ lymphocytes in near-neighbor analysis suggests NSCLC lymphocyte activation is coordinately regulated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Remziye E Wessel
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
| | - Nardin Ageeb
- Department of Biology, UVA, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
| | - Joseph M Obeid
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19140
| | - Ileana Mauldin
- Department of Surgery, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
| | - Kate A Goundry
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
| | - Gabriel F Hanson
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
| | - Mahdin Hossain
- Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
| | - Chad Lehman
- Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
| | - Ryan D Gentzler
- Department of Medicine, Hematology and Oncology, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
| | - Nolan A Wages
- Department of Biostatistics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia 23298-0032
| | - Craig L Slingluff
- Department of Surgery, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
| | - Timothy N J Bullock
- Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
- Department of Pathology, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
| | - Sepideh Dolatshahi
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
- Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
| | - Michael G Brown
- Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
- Department of Medicine, Nephrology, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
- Center for Immunity, Inflammation and Regenerative Medicine, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology, UVA School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908
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Persky J, Cruz SM, Darrow MA, Judge SJ, Li Y, Bold RJ, Karnezis AN, Matsukuma KE, Qi L, Canter RJ. Characterization of natural killer and cytotoxic T-cell immune infiltrates in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. J Surg Oncol 2024; 129:885-892. [PMID: 38196111 PMCID: PMC10980567 DOI: 10.1002/jso.27581] [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: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive cancer with poor response to systemic therapies, including immunotherapy. Given the immunotherapeutic potential of natural killer (NK) cells, we evaluated intratumoral NK cell infiltrates along with cytotoxic T cells in PDAC to determine their association with patient outcomes. METHODS We analyzed tumors from 93 PDAC patients treated from 2012 to 2020. Predictor variables included tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), T-cell markers (CD3, CD8, CD45RO), NK marker (NKp46), and NK inhibitory marker (major histocompatibility complex class I [MHC-I]) by immunohistochemistry. Primary outcome variables were recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). RESULTS Mean TILs, CD3, and NKp46 scores were 1.3 ± 0.63, 20.6 ± 17.5, and 3.1 ± 3.9, respectively. Higher expression of CD3 and CD8 was associated with higher OS, whereas NK cell infiltration was not associated with either RFS or OS. There was a tight positive correlation between MHC-I expression and all T-cell markers, but not with NKp46. CONCLUSIONS Overall NK cell infiltrates were low in PDAC and did not predict clinical outcomes, whereas T-cell infiltrates did. Further characterization of the immune infiltrate in PDAC, including inhibitory signals and suppressive cell types, may yield better biomarkers of prognosis and immune targeting in this refractory disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Persky
- Division of Surgical Oncology, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, Sacramento, CA
| | - Sylvia M. Cruz
- Division of Surgical Oncology, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, Sacramento, CA
| | - Morgan, A. Darrow
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA
| | - Sean J. Judge
- Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
| | - Yueju Li
- Division of Biostatistics, Department of Public Health Sciences, UC Davis
| | - Richard J. Bold
- Division of Surgical Oncology, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, Sacramento, CA
| | - Anthony N. Karnezis
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA
| | - Karen E. Matsukuma
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA
| | - Lihong Qi
- Division of Biostatistics, Department of Public Health Sciences, UC Davis
| | - Robert J. Canter
- Division of Surgical Oncology, UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, Sacramento, CA
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Cruz SM, Iranpur KR, Judge SJ, Ames E, Sturgill IR, Farley LE, Darrow MA, Crowley JS, Monjazeb AM, Murphy WJ, Canter RJ. Low-Dose Sorafenib Promotes Cancer Stem Cell Expansion and Accelerated Tumor Progression in Soft Tissue Sarcomas. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:3351. [PMID: 38542325 PMCID: PMC10969893 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25063351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2024] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 08/03/2024] Open
Abstract
The cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis postulates that heterogeneous human cancers harbor a population of stem-like cells which are resistant to cytotoxic therapies, thus providing a reservoir of relapse following conventional therapies like chemotherapy and radiation (RT). CSCs have been observed in multiple human cancers, and their presence has been correlated with worse clinical outcomes. Here, we sought to evaluate the impact of drug dosing of the multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, sorafenib, on CSC and non-CSCs in soft tissue sarcoma (STS) models, hypothesizing differential effects of sorafenib based on dose and target cell population. In vitro, human cancer cell lines and primary STS from surgical specimens were exposed to escalating doses of sorafenib to determine cell viability and expression of CSC marker aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). In vivo, ALDHbright CSCs were isolated, exposed to sorafenib, and xenograft growth and survival analyses were performed. We observed that sarcoma CSCs appear to paradoxically respond to the tyrosine kinase inhibitor sorafenib at low doses with increased proliferation and stem-like function of CSCs, whereas anti-viability effects dominated at higher doses. Importantly, STS patients receiving neoadjuvant sorafenib and RT on a clinical trial (NCT00864032) showed increased CSCs post therapy, and higher ALDH scores post therapy were associated with worse metastasis-free survival. These data suggest that low-dose sorafenib may promote the CSC phenotype in STS with clinically significant effects, including increased tumor growth and higher rates of metastasis formation in sarcoma patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sylvia M. Cruz
- Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - Khurshid R. Iranpur
- Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - Sean J. Judge
- Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - Erik Ames
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Ian R. Sturgill
- Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Lauren E. Farley
- Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - Morgan A. Darrow
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - Jiwon Sarah Crowley
- Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - Arta M. Monjazeb
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
| | - William J. Murphy
- Department of Dermatology, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA;
| | - Robert J. Canter
- Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA
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Lee RB, Maddineni S, Landry M, Diaz C, Tashfeen A, Yamada-Hunter SA, Mackall CL, Beinat C, Sunwoo JB, Cochran JR. An engineered NKp46 antibody for construction of multi-specific NK cell engagers. Protein Eng Des Sel 2024; 37:gzae013. [PMID: 39163262 PMCID: PMC11359164 DOI: 10.1093/protein/gzae013] [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: 04/10/2024] [Revised: 08/04/2024] [Indexed: 08/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Recent developments in cancer immunotherapy have highlighted the potential of harnessing natural killer (NK) cells in the treatment of neoplastic malignancies. Of these, bispecific antibodies, and NK cell engager (NKCE) protein therapeutics in particular, have been of interest. Here, we used phage display and yeast surface display to engineer RLN131, a unique cross-reactive antibody that binds to human, mouse, and cynomolgus NKp46, an activating receptor found on NK cells. RLN131 induced proliferation and activation of primary NK cells, and was used to create bispecific NKCE constructs of varying configurations and valency. All NKCEs were able to promote greater NK cell cytotoxicity against tumor cells than an unmodified anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, and activity was observed irrespective of whether the constructs contained a functional Fc domain. Competition binding and fine epitope mapping studies were used to demonstrate that RLN131 binds to a conserved epitope on NKp46, underlying its species cross-reactivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert B Lee
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
| | - Sainiteesh Maddineni
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
| | - Madeleine Landry
- Department of Radiology, Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, Stanford University, 1701 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, United States
| | - Celeste Diaz
- Cancer Biology Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
| | - Aanya Tashfeen
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 350 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
| | - Sean A Yamada-Hunter
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
| | - Crystal L Mackall
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
| | - Corinne Beinat
- Department of Radiology, Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, Stanford University, 1701 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, United States
| | - John B Sunwoo
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
| | - Jennifer R Cochran
- Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
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