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Wimmer K, Sachet M, Ramos C, Frantal S, Birnleitner H, Brostjan C, Exner R, Filipits M, Bago-Horvath Z, Rudas M, Bartsch R, Gnant M, Singer CF, Balic M, Egle D, Oehler R, Fitzal F. Differential immunomodulatory effects of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide and docetaxel in breast cancer patients. J Exp Clin Cancer Res 2023; 42:300. [PMID: 37957750 PMCID: PMC10644559 DOI: 10.1186/s13046-023-02876-x] [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: 05/17/2023] [Accepted: 10/29/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Epirubicin/cyclophosphamide (EC) and docetaxel (D) are commonly used in a sequential regimen in the neoadjuvant treatment of early, high-risk or locally advanced breast cancer (BC). Novel approaches to increase the response rate combine this treatment with immunotherapies such as PD-1 inhibition. However, the expected stimulatory effect on lymphocytes may depend on the chemotherapy backbone. Therefore, we separately compared the immunomodulatory effects of EC and D in the setting of a randomized clinical trial. METHODS Tumor and blood samples of 154 patients from the ABCSG-34 trial were available (76 patients received four cycles of EC followed by four cycles of D; 78 patients get the reverse treatment sequence). Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, circulating lymphocytes and 14 soluble immune mediators were determined at baseline and at drug change. Furthermore, six BC cell lines were treated with E, C or D and co-cultured with immune cells. RESULTS Initial treatment with four cycles of EC reduced circulating B and T cells by 94% and 45%, respectively. In contrast, no comparable effects on lymphocytes were observed in patients treated with initial four cycles of D. Most immune mediators decreased under EC whereas D-treatment resulted in elevated levels of CXCL10, urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and its soluble receptor (suPAR). Accordingly, only the exposure of BC cell lines to D induced similar increases as compared to E. While treatment of BC cells with E was associated with cell shrinkage and apoptosis, D induced cell swelling and accumulation of cells in G2 phase. CONCLUSION The deleterious effect of EC on lymphocytes indicates strong immunosuppressive properties of this combination therapy. D, in contrast, has no effect on lymphocytes, but triggers the secretion of stimulatory proteins in vivo and in vitro, indicating a supportive effect on the immune system. Underlying differences in the induced cell death might be causal. These divergent immunomodulatory effects of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide and docetaxel should be considered when planning future combinations with immunotherapies in breast cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kerstin Wimmer
- Department of General Surgery, Division of Visceral Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), Vienna, Austria
| | - Monika Sachet
- Department of General Surgery, Division of Visceral Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Cristiano Ramos
- Department of General Surgery, Division of Visceral Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Sophie Frantal
- Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), Vienna, Austria
| | - Hanna Birnleitner
- Department of General Surgery, Division of Visceral Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christine Brostjan
- Department of General Surgery, Division of Vascular Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ruth Exner
- Department of General Surgery, Division of Visceral Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Martin Filipits
- Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), Vienna, Austria
- Center for Cancer Research, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Zsuzsanna Bago-Horvath
- Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), Vienna, Austria
- Department of Pathology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
- Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Margaretha Rudas
- Department of Pathology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
- Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Rupert Bartsch
- Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), Vienna, Austria
- Department of Medicine 1, Division of Oncology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Michael Gnant
- Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), Vienna, Austria
- Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christian F Singer
- Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), Vienna, Austria
- Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, 1090, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Gynecology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Marija Balic
- Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), Vienna, Austria
- Department of Oncology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Daniel Egle
- Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), Vienna, Austria
- Department of Gynecology, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Rudolf Oehler
- Department of General Surgery, Division of Visceral Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria.
- Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), Vienna, Austria.
| | - Florian Fitzal
- Department of General Surgery, Division of Visceral Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090, Vienna, Austria
- Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), Vienna, Austria
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Zhao S, Wang Q, Liu Y, Zhang P, Ji W, Xie J, Cheng C. Interaction, immune infiltration characteristics and prognostic modeling of efferocytosis-related subtypes in glioblastoma. BMC Med Genomics 2023; 16:248. [PMID: 37853449 PMCID: PMC10583324 DOI: 10.1186/s12920-023-01688-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 10/20/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Efferocytosis is a biological process in which phagocytes remove apoptotic cells and vesicles from tissues. This process is initiated by the release of inflammatory mediators from apoptotic cells and plays a crucial role in resolving inflammation. The signals associated with efferocytosis have been found to regulate the inflammatory response and the tumor microenvironment (TME), which promotes the immune escape of tumor cells. However, the role of efferocytosis in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is not well understood and requires further investigation. METHODS In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of 22 efferocytosis-related genes (ERGs) by searching for studies related to efferocytosis. Using bulk RNA-Seq and single-cell sequencing data, we analyzed the expression and mutational characteristics of these ERGs. By using an unsupervised clustering algorithm, we obtained ERG clusters from 549 GBM patients and evaluated the immune infiltration characteristics of each cluster. We then identified differential genes (DEGs) in the two ERG clusters and classified GBM patients into different gene clusters using univariate cox analysis and unsupervised clustering algorithms. Finally, we utilized the Boruta algorithm to screen for prognostic genes and reduce dimensionality, and the PCA algorithm was applied to create a novel efferocytosis-related scoring system. RESULTS Differential expression of ERGs in glioma cell lines and normal cells was analyzed by rt-PCR. Cell function experiments, on the other hand, validated TIMD4 as a tumor risk factor in GBM. We found that different ERG clusters and gene clusters have distinct prognostic and immune infiltration profiles. The ERG signature we developed provides insight into the tumor microenvironment of GBM. Patients with lower ERG scores have a better survival rate and a higher likelihood of benefiting from immunotherapy. CONCLUSIONS Our novel efferocytosis-related signature has the potential to be used in clinical practice for risk stratification of GBM patients and for selecting individuals who are likely to respond to immunotherapy. This can help clinicians design appropriate targeted therapies before initiating clinical treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Songyun Zhao
- Department of Neurosurgery, Affiliated Wuxi People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
| | - Qi Wang
- Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
| | - Yuankun Liu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Affiliated Wuxi People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
| | - Pengpeng Zhang
- Department of Lung Cancer Surgery, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Wei Ji
- Department of Neurosurgery, Affiliated Wuxi People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China
| | - Jiaheng Xie
- The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
- Department of Plastic Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
| | - Chao Cheng
- Department of Neurosurgery, Affiliated Wuxi People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, China.
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Zhang Y, Wang Y, Ding J, Liu P. Efferocytosis in multisystem diseases (Review). Mol Med Rep 2022; 25:13. [PMID: 34779503 PMCID: PMC8600411 DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2021.12529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Efferocytosis, the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells performed by both specialized phagocytes (such as macrophages) and non‑specialized phagocytes (such as epithelial cells), is involved in tissue repair and homeostasis. Effective efferocytosis prevents secondary necrosis, terminates inflammatory responses, promotes self‑tolerance and activates pro‑resolving pathways to maintain homeostasis. When efferocytosis is impaired, apoptotic cells that could not be cleared in time aggregate, resulting in the necrosis of apoptotic cells and release of pro‑inflammatory factors. In addition, defective efferocytosis inhibits the intracellular cholesterol reverse transportation pathways, which may lead to atherosclerosis, lung damage, non‑alcoholic fatty liver disease and neurodegenerative diseases. The uncleared apoptotic cells can also release autoantigens, which can cause autoimmune diseases. Cancer cells escape from phagocytosis via efferocytosis. Therefore, new treatment strategies for diseases related to defective efferocytosis are proposed. This review illustrated the mechanisms of efferocytosis in multisystem diseases and organismal homeostasis and the pathophysiological consequences of defective efferocytosis. Several drugs and treatments available to enhance efferocytosis are also mentioned in the review, serving as new evidence for clinical application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yifan Zhang
- Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, P.R. China
- Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, P.R. China
| | - Yiru Wang
- Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, P.R. China
- Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, P.R. China
| | - Jie Ding
- Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, P.R. China
- Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, P.R. China
| | - Ping Liu
- Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200032, P.R. China
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Efferocytosis and the Story of "Find Me," "Eat Me," and "Don't Eat Me" Signaling in the Tumor Microenvironment. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2021. [PMID: 34664238 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-73119-9_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/15/2023]
Abstract
The process of efferocytosis involves removal of dying or dead cells by phagocytosis. Another term "efferosome" is used which means a fluid-filled membrane vesicle which engulfs dead cells. The process of efferocytosis works in coordination with apoptosis because before the contents of apoptotic cells are bleached out, they are engulfed by efferosomes. Thus, the microenvironment is not polluted with toxic enzymes and oxidants. A defect in the apoptotic cell clearance may participate in autoimmunity and chronic inflammation for homeostasis and proper tissue development, for which removal of dead cells is essential. This also protects from chronic inflammation and autoimmunity. In different tumor types and other diseases, efferocytosis has been studied extensively and potential pathways identified. A few of the intermediates in different pathways, which create aggressive and tolerogenic tumor microenvironment, might be considered for therapeutic or interventional purposes. Since the key players in efferocytosis are macrophages and dendritic cells, development of antigen-dependent antitumor immunity is affected by efferocytosis. The literature analysis suggests that efferocytosis is an underappreciated immune checkpoint, perhaps one that might be therapeutically targeted in the setting of cancer. The current status of efferocytosis and its role in tumor microenvironment is discussed in this article.
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Rundgren IM, Ryningen A, Anderson Tvedt TH, Bruserud Ø, Ersvær E. Immunomodulatory Drugs Alter the Metabolism and the Extracellular Release of Soluble Mediators by Normal Monocytes. Molecules 2020; 25:molecules25020367. [PMID: 31963193 PMCID: PMC7024334 DOI: 10.3390/molecules25020367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Revised: 01/10/2020] [Accepted: 01/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) are used in the treatment of hematological malignancies, especially multiple myeloma. IMiDs have direct anticancer effects but also indirect effects via cancer-supporting stromal cells. Monocytes are a stromal cell subset whose metabolism is modulated by the microenvironment, and they communicate with neighboring cells through extracellular release of soluble mediators. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is then a common regulator of monocyte metabolism and mediator release. Our aim was to investigate IMiD effects on these two monocyte functions. We compared effects of thalidomide, lenalidomide, and pomalidomide on in vitro cultured normal monocytes. Cells were cultured in medium alone or activated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a TLR4 agonist. Metabolism was analyzed by the Seahorse XF 96 cell analyzer. Mediator release was measured as culture supernatant levels. TLR4 was a regulator of both monocyte metabolism and mediator release. All three IMiDs altered monocyte metabolism especially when cells were cultured with LPS; this effect was strongest for lenalidomide that increased glycolysis. Monocytes showed a broad soluble mediator release profile. IMiDs decreased TLR4-induced mediator release; this effect was stronger for pomalidomide than for lenalidomide and especially thalidomide. To conclude, IMiDs can alter the metabolism and cell–cell communication of normal monocytes, and despite their common molecular target these effects differ among various IMiDs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ida Marie Rundgren
- Department of Biomedical Laboratory Scientist Education and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, 5020 Bergen, Norway; (I.M.R.); (A.R.); (E.E.)
- Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, 5020 Bergen, Norway
| | - Anita Ryningen
- Department of Biomedical Laboratory Scientist Education and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, 5020 Bergen, Norway; (I.M.R.); (A.R.); (E.E.)
| | | | - Øystein Bruserud
- Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, 5020 Bergen, Norway
- Section for Hematology, Department of Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, 5021 Bergen, Norway;
- Correspondence:
| | - Elisabeth Ersvær
- Department of Biomedical Laboratory Scientist Education and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, 5020 Bergen, Norway; (I.M.R.); (A.R.); (E.E.)
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Abstract
When apoptotic cells are not cleared in an efficient and timely manner, they progress to secondary necrosis and lose their membrane integrity. This results in a leakage of immunostimulatory, danger associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), similar to accidental (or primary) necrosis. However, primary necrosis is a sudden event with an inadvertent release of almost unmodified DAMPs. Secondary necrotic cells, in contrast, have gone through various modifications during the process of apoptosis. Recent research revealed that the molecules released from the cytoplasm or exposed on the cell surface differ between primary necrosis, secondary necrosis, and regulated necrosis such as necroptosis. This review gives an overview of these differences and focusses their effects on the immune response. The implications to human physiology and diseases are manifold and will be discussed in the context of cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and autoimmunity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Sachet
- Surgical Research Laboratories, Department of Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Ying Yu Liang
- Surgical Research Laboratories, Department of Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria.,Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Rudolf Oehler
- Surgical Research Laboratories, Department of Surgery and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
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