The Immune Landscape and Prognostic Immune Key Genes Potentially Involved in Modulating Synaptic Functions in Prostate Cancer

Polyunsaturated fatty acids promote M2-like TAM deposition via dampening RhoA-YAP1 signaling in the ovarian cancer microenvironment

BACKGROUND

Peritoneal metastases frequently occur in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), resulting in poor prognosis and survival rates. Tumor-associated-macrophages (TAMs) massively infiltrate into ascites spheroids and are multi-polarized as protumoral M2-like phenotype, orchestrating the immunosuppression and promoting tumor progression. However, the impact of omental conditioned medium/ascites (OCM/AS) on TAM polarization and its function in tumor progression remains elusive.

METHODS

The distribution and polarization of TAMs in primary and omental metastatic EOC patients' tumors and ascites were examined by m-IHC, FACS analysis, and immunofluorescence. QPCR, immunofluorescence, FACS analysis, lipid staining assay, ROS assay, and Seahorse real-time cell metabolic assay characterized TAMs as being polarized in the ascites microenvironment. The oncogenic role of TAMs in tumor cells was demonstrated by co-cultured migration/invasion, proliferation, and spheroid formation assays. Mechanistic studies of the regulations of TAM polarization were performed by using RNA-Seq, GTPase pull-down, G-LISA activation assays, and other biochemical assays. A Yap1 macrophages (MФs) conditional knockout (cKO) mouse model demonstrated the roles of YAP1 in TAM polarization status and its pro-metastatic function. Finally, the anti-metastatic potential of targeting TAMs through restoring YAP1 by pharmacological agonist XMU MP1 was demonstrated in vitro and in vivo.

RESULTS

Abundant polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in OCM/AS suppressed RhoA-GTPase activities, which, in turn, downregulated nuclear YAP1 in MФs, leading to increased protumoral TAM polarization accompanied by elevated OXPHOS metabolism. Abolishment of YAP1 in MФs further confirmed that a higher M2/M1 ratio of TAM polarization could alleviate CD8+ T cell infiltration and cytotoxicity in vivo. Consistently, the loss of YAP1 has been observed in EOC metastatic tissues, suggesting its clinical relevance. On the contrary, restoration of YAP1 expression by pharmaceutical inhibition of MST1/2 induced conversion of M2-to-M1-like polarized MФs, elevating the infiltration of CD8+ T cells and attenuating tumor growth.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed that PUFAs-enriched OCM/AS of EOC promotes M2-like TAM polarization through RhoA-YAP1 inhibition, where YAP1 downregulation is required for accelerating protumoral M2-like TAM polarization, thereby causing immunosuppression and enhancing tumor progression. Conversion of M2-to-M1-like polarized MФs through Yap1 activation inhibits tumor progression and contributes to developing potential TAMs-targeted immunotherapies in combating EOC peritoneal metastases.

A novel focal adhesion-related risk model predicts prognosis of bladder cancer —— a bioinformatic study based on TCGA and GEO database

Background

Bladder cancer (BLCA) is the ninth most common cancer globally, as well as the fourth most common cancer in men, with an incidence of 7%. However, few effective prognostic biomarkers or models of BLCA are available at present.

Methods

The prognostic genes of BLCA were screened from one cohort of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database through univariate Cox regression analysis and functionally annotated by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. The intersecting genes of the BLCA gene set and focal adhesion-related gene were obtained and subjected to the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression (LASSO) to construct a prognostic model. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) of high- and low-risk patients was performed to explore further the biological process related to focal adhesion genes. Univariate and multivariate Cox analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis (KM) were used to evaluate the prognostic model. DNA methylation analysis was presented to explore the relationship between prognosis and gene methylation. Furthermore, immune cell infiltration was assessed by CIBERSORT, ESTIMATE, and TIMER. The model was verified in an external GSE32894 cohort of the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, and the Prognoscan database presented further validation of genes. The HPA database validated the related protein level, and functional experiments verified significant risk factors in the model.

Results

VCL, COL6A1, RAC3, PDGFD, JUN, LAMA2, and ITGB6 were used to construct a prognostic model in the TCGA-BLCA cohort and validated in the GSE32894 cohort. The 7-gene model successfully stratified the patients into both cohorts’ high- and low-risk groups. The higher risk score was associated with a worse prognosis.

Conclusions

The 7-gene prognostic model can classify BLCA patients into high- and low-risk groups based on the risk score and predict the overall survival, which may aid clinical decision-making.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-10264-5.

Advancing Treatment of Bone Metastases through Novel Translational Approaches Targeting the Bone Microenvironment

Bone metastases represent a lethal condition that frequently occurs in solid tumors such as prostate, breast, lung, and renal cell carcinomas, and increase the risk of skeletal-related events (SREs) including pain, pathologic fractures, and spinal cord compression. This unique metastatic niche consists of a multicellular complex that cancer cells co-opt to engender bone remodeling, immune suppression, and stromal-mediated therapeutic resistance. This review comprehensively discusses clinical challenges of bone metastases, novel preclinical models of the bone and bone marrow microenviroment, and crucial signaling pathways active in bone homeostasis and metastatic niche. These studies establish the context to summarize the current state of investigational agents targeting BM, and approaches to improve BM-targeting therapies. Finally, we discuss opportunities to advance research in bone and bone marrow microenvironments by increasing complexity of humanized preclinical models and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations to translational research in this challenging metastatic niche.

Understanding the tumor-immune microenvironment in prostate cancer

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This review aims to highlight recent advances in prostate cancer tumor-immune microenvironment research and summarize the state-of-the-art knowledge of immune checkpoint inhibitors in prostate cancer.

RECENT FINDINGS

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are the cornerstone of modern immunotherapy which have shown encouraging results across a spectrum of cancers. However, only limited survival benefit has been seen in patients with prostate cancer. Prostate cancer progression and its response to immunotherapies are strongly influenced by the tumor-immune microenvironment, whose feature can be summarized as low amounts of tumor-specific antigens, low frequency of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and high frequency of tumor-associated macrophages. To improve the therapeutic effect of immunotherapies, in recent years, many strategies have been applied, of which the most promising ones include the combination of multiple immunotherapeutic agents, the combination of an immunotherapeutic agent with other modalities in parallel or in sequential, and the development of biomarkers to find a subgroup of patients who may benefit the most from immunotherapeutic agents.

SUMMARY

The impact of immune content and specific immune cell types on prostate cancer biology is highly complex. Recent clinical trials have shed light on the optimal use of immunotherapies for prostate cancer.

Prognostic signatures associated with high infiltration of Tregs in bone metastatic prostate cancer

Metastatic cancer especially bone metastasis (BM) is the lethal end-stage of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). To understand the possible molecular mechanisms underlying the development of the distant metastasis is of potential clinical value. We sought to identify differentially expressed genes between patient-matched primary and bone metastatic CRPC tumors. Functional enrichment, protein-protein interaction networks, and survival analysis of DEGs were performed. DEGs with a prognostic value considered as candidate genes were evaluated, followed by genetic analysis of tumor infiltrating immune cells based on Wilcoxon test and immunofluorescence identification. Expression profiles analysis showed that 381 overlapping genes were screened as differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 16 DEGs were randomly selected to be validated and revealed that most of these genes showed a transcriptional profile similar to that seen in the datasets (Pearson’s r = 0.76). Six core genes were found to be involved in regulation of extracellular matrix receptor interaction and chemotactic activity, and four of them were significantly correlated with the survival of PCa patients with bone metastases. Immune infiltration analysis showed that the expressions levels of COL3A1, RAC1, FN1, and SDC2 in CD4+T cells were significantly higher than those in tumor cells, especially regulatory T cell infiltration was significantly increased in BM tumors. We analyzed gene expression signatures specifically associated with the development of bone metastases of CRPC patients. Characterization of genes associated with BM of mCRPC is critical for identification of predictive biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets.

A novel immune-related gene-based prognostic signature to predict biochemical recurrence in patients with prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy

Accumulating evidences indicates that the immune landscape signature dramatically correlates with tumorigenesis and prognosis of prostate cancer (PCa). Here, we identified a novel immune-related gene-based prognostic signature (IRGPS) to predict biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy. We also explored the correlation between IRGPS and tumor microenvironment. We identified an IRGPS consisting of seven immune-related genes (PPARGC1A, AKR1C2, COMP, EEF1A2, IRF5, NTM, and TPX2) that were related to the BCR-free survival of PCa patients. The high-risk patients exhibited a higher fraction of regulatory T cells and M2 macrophages than the low-risk BCR patients (P < 0.05) as well as a lower fraction of resting memory CD4 T cells and resting mast cells. These high-risk patients also had higher expression levels of CTLA4, TIGIT, PDCD1, LAG3, and TIM3. Finally, a strong correlation was detected between IRGPS and specific clinicopathological features, including Gleason scores and tumor stage. In conclusion, our study reveals the clinical significance and potential functions of the IRGPS, provides more data for predicting outcomes, and suggests more effective immunotherapeutic target strategies for PCa.

Prostate Cancer Peripheral Blood NK Cells Show Enhanced CD9, CD49a, CXCR4, CXCL8, MMP-9 Production and Secrete Monocyte-Recruiting and Polarizing Factors

Natural killer (NK) cells, effector lymphocytes of the innate immunity, have been shown to be altered in several cancers, both at tissue and peripheral levels. We have shown that in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) and colon cancer, tumour associated circulating NK (TA-NK) and tumour infiltrating NK (TI-NK) exhibit pro-angiogenic phenotype/functions. However, there is still a lack of knowledge concerning the phenotype of peripheral blood (PB) NK (pNK) cells in prostate cancer (PCa). Here, we phenotypically and functionally characterized pNK from PCa patients (PCa TA-NKs) and investigated their interactions with endothelial cells and monocytes/macrophages. NK cell subset distribution in PB of PCa patients was investigated, by multicolor flow cytometry, for surface antigens expression. Protein arrays were performed to characterize the secretome on FACS-sorted pNK cells. Conditioned media (CM) from FACS-sorted PCa pTA-NKs were used to determine their ability to induce pro-inflammatory/pro-angiogenic phenotype/functions in endothelial cells, monocytes, and macrophages. CM from three different PCa (PC-3, DU-145, LNCaP) cell lines, were used to assess their effects on human NK cell polarization in vitro, by multicolor flow cytometry. We found that PCa pTA-NKs acquire the CD56brightCD9+CD49a+CXCR4+ phenotype, increased the expression of markers of exhaustion (PD-1, TIM-3) and are impaired in their degranulation capabilities. Similar effects were observed on healthy donor-derived pNK cells, exposed to conditioned media of three different PCa cell lines, together with increased production of pro-inflammatory chemokines/chemokine receptors CXCR4, CXCL8, CXCL12, reduced production of TNFα, IFNγ and Granzyme-B. PCa TA-NKs released factors able to support inflammatory angiogenesis in an in vitro model and increased the expression of CXCL8, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1 mRNA in endothelial cells. Secretome analysis revealed the ability of PCa TA-NKs to release pro-inflammatory cytokines/chemokines involved in monocyte recruitment and M2-like polarization. Finally, CMs from PCa pTA-NKs recruit THP-1 and peripheral blood CD14+ monocyte and polarize THP-1 and peripheral blood CD14+ monocyte-derived macrophage towards M2-like/TAM macrophages. Our results show that PCa pTA-NKs acquire properties related to the pro-inflammatory angiogenesis in endothelial cells, recruit monocytes and polarize macrophage to an M2-like type phenotype. Our data provides a rationale for a potential use of pNK profiling in PCa patients.