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Daily KP, Badr A, Eltobgy M, Estfanous S, Whitham O, Tan MH, Carafice C, Krause K, McNamara A, Hamilton K, Houle S, Gupta S, Gupta GA, Madhu S, Fitzgerald J, Saadey AA, Laster B, Yan P, Webb A, Zhang X, Pietrzak M, Kokiko-Cochran ON, Ghoneim HE, Amer AO. DNA hypomethylation promotes the expression of CASPASE-4 which exacerbates inflammation and amyloid-β deposition in Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimers Res Ther 2024; 16:29. [PMID: 38326859 PMCID: PMC10851453 DOI: 10.1186/s13195-024-01390-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the sixth leading cause of death in the USA. It is established that neuroinflammation contributes to the synaptic loss, neuronal death, and symptomatic decline of AD patients. Accumulating evidence suggests a critical role for microglia, innate immune phagocytes of the brain. For instance, microglia release pro-inflammatory products such as IL-1β which is highly implicated in AD pathobiology. The mechanisms underlying the transition of microglia to proinflammatory promoters of AD remain largely unknown. To address this gap, we performed reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) to profile global DNA methylation changes in human AD brains compared to no disease controls. We identified differential DNA methylation of CASPASE-4 (CASP4), which when expressed promotes the generation of IL-1β and is predominantly expressed in immune cells. DNA upstream of the CASP4 transcription start site was hypomethylated in human AD brains, which was correlated with increased expression of CASP4. Furthermore, microglia from a mouse model of AD (5xFAD) express increased levels of CASP4 compared to wild-type (WT) mice. To study the role of CASP4 in AD, we developed a novel mouse model of AD lacking the mouse ortholog of CASP4 and CASP11, which is encoded by mouse Caspase-4 (5xFAD/Casp4-/-). The expression of CASP11 was associated with increased accumulation of pathologic protein aggregate amyloid-β (Aβ) and increased microglial production of IL-1β in 5xFAD mice. Utilizing RNA-sequencing, we determined that CASP11 promotes unique transcriptomic phenotypes in 5xFAD mouse brains, including alterations of neuroinflammatory and chemokine signaling pathways. Notably, in vitro, CASP11 promoted generation of IL-1β from macrophages in response to cytosolic Aβ through cleavage of downstream effector Gasdermin D (GSDMD). Therefore, here we unravel the role for CASP11 and GSDMD in the generation of IL-1β in response to Aβ and the progression of pathologic inflammation in AD. Overall, our results demonstrate that overexpression of CASP4 due to differential DNA methylation in AD microglia contributes to the progression of AD pathobiology. Thus, we identify CASP4 as a potential target for immunotherapies for the treatment and prevention of AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kylene P Daily
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Asmaa Badr
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
- Clinical Pathology Department, College of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt
| | - Mostafa Eltobgy
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Shady Estfanous
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Owen Whitham
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Michelle H Tan
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Cierra Carafice
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Kathrin Krause
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
- Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andrew McNamara
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Kaitlin Hamilton
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Samuel Houle
- Department of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Spandan Gupta
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Gauruv A Gupta
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Shruthi Madhu
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Julie Fitzgerald
- Department of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Abbey A Saadey
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Brooke Laster
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Pearlly Yan
- Genomics Shared Resource, Department of Internal Medicine, Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Amy Webb
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Xiaoli Zhang
- Center for Biostatistics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Maciej Pietrzak
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | | | - Hazem E Ghoneim
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
- Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology, James Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
| | - Amal O Amer
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
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Daily KP, Badr A, Eltobgy M, Estfanous S, Whitham O, Tan MH, Carafice C, Krause K, McNamara A, Hamilton K, Houle S, Gupta S, Gupta GA, Madhu S, Fitzgerald J, Saadey AA, Laster B, Yan P, Webb A, Zhang X, Pietrzak M, Kokiko-Cochran ON, Ghoneim HE, Amer AO. DNA hypomethylation promotes the expression of CASPASE-4 which exacerbates neuroinflammation and amyloid-β deposition in Alzheimer's disease The Ohio State University College of Medicine. bioRxiv 2023:2023.08.30.555526. [PMID: 37693600 PMCID: PMC10491177 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.30.555526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the 6th leading cause of death in the US. It is established that neuroinflammation contributes to the synaptic loss, neuronal death, and symptomatic decline of AD patients. Accumulating evidence suggests a critical role for microglia, innate immune phagocytes of the brain. For instance, microglia release proinflammatory products such as IL-1β which is highly implicated in AD pathobiology. The mechanisms underlying the transition of microglia to proinflammatory promoters of AD remain largely unknown. To address this gap, we performed Reduced Representation Bisulfite Sequencing (RRBS) to profile global DNA methylation changes in human AD brains compared to no disease controls. We identified differential DNA methylation of CASPASE-4 (CASP4), which when expressed, can be involved in generation of IL-1β and is predominantly expressed in immune cells. DNA upstream of the CASP4 transcription start site was hypomethylated in human AD brains, which was correlated with increased expression of CASP4. Furthermore, microglia from a mouse model of AD (5xFAD) express increased levels of CASP4 compared to wild-type (WT) mice. To study the role of CASP4 in AD, we developed a novel mouse model of AD lacking the mouse ortholog of CASP4, CASP11, which is encoded by mouse Caspase-4 (5xFAD/Casp4-/-). The expression of CASP11 was associated with increased accumulation of pathologic protein aggregate amyloid-β (Aβ) and increased microglial production of IL-1β in 5xFAD mice. Utilizing RNA sequencing, we determined that CASP11 promotes unique transcriptomic phenotypes in 5xFAD mouse brains, including alterations of neuroinflammatory and chemokine signaling pathways. Notably, in vitro, CASP11 promoted generation of IL-1β from macrophages in response to cytosolic Aβ through cleavage of downstream effector Gasdermin D (G SDMD). We describe a role for CASP11 and GSDMD in the generation of IL-1β in response to Aβ and the progression of pathologic inflammation in AD. Overall, our results demonstrate that overexpression of CASP4 due to differential methylation in AD microglia contributes to the progression of AD pathobiology, thus identifying CASP4 as a potential target for immunotherapies for the treatment of AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kylene P. Daily
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Asmaa Badr
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Mostafa Eltobgy
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Shady Estfanous
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Owen Whitham
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Michelle H. Tan
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Cierra Carafice
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Kathrin Krause
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andrew McNamara
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Kaitlin Hamilton
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Samuel Houle
- Department of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
| | - Spandan Gupta
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Gauruv A. Gupta
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Shruthi Madhu
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Julie Fitzgerald
- Department of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
| | - Abbey A. Saadey
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Brooke Laster
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Pearlly Yan
- Genomics Shared Resource, Comprehensive Cancer Center, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University, USA; The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Amy Webb
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Xiaoli Zhang
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Maciej Pietrzak
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | | | - Hazem E. Ghoneim
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Amal O. Amer
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Infectious Diseases Institute, The Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
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Saadey AA, Yousif A, Osborne N, Shahinfar R, Chen YL, Laster B, Rajeev M, Bauman P, Webb A, Ghoneim HE. Rebalancing TGFβ1/BMP signals in exhausted T cells unlocks responsiveness to immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Nat Immunol 2023; 24:280-294. [PMID: 36543960 DOI: 10.1038/s41590-022-01384-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2022] [Accepted: 11/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
T cell dysfunctionality prevents the clearance of chronic infections and cancer. Furthermore, epigenetic programming in dysfunctional CD8+ T cells limits their response to immunotherapies, including immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). However, it is unclear which upstream signals drive acquisition of dysfunctional epigenetic programs, and whether therapeutically targeting these signals can remodel terminally dysfunctional T cells to an ICB-responsive state. Here we innovate an in vitro model system of stable human T cell dysfunction and show that chronic TGFβ1 signaling in posteffector CD8+ T cells accelerates their terminal dysfunction through stable epigenetic changes. Conversely, boosting bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling while blocking TGFβ1 preserved effector and memory programs in chronically stimulated human CD8+ T cells, inducing superior responses to tumors and synergizing the ICB responses during chronic viral infection. Thus, rebalancing TGFβ1/BMP signals provides an exciting new approach to unleash dysfunctional CD8+ T cells and enhance T cell immunotherapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abbey A Saadey
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Amir Yousif
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
- Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Graduate Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Nicole Osborne
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Roya Shahinfar
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Yu-Lin Chen
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Brooke Laster
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Meera Rajeev
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Parker Bauman
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Amy Webb
- Biomedical Informatics Shared Resources, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Hazem E Ghoneim
- Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Graduate Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- The Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology, James Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
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Ghoneim HE, Saadey AA, Yousif A, Osborne N, Chen YL, Laster B, Zayed A, Bauman P. Rebalancing TGFβ1/BMP Signaling Epigenetically Reprograms Fully Exhausted Human CD8 T Cells into a Functional State. The Journal of Immunology 2022. [DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.208.supp.121.10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Epigenetic scarring of exhausted T cells (Tex) remains a major obstacle to achieving durable responses by T cell immunotherapies. While we established that de novo DNA methylation programs are causally linked to T cell’s full exhaustion and poor response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), major gaps remain in our current understanding of T cell exhaustion—(1) What are the upstream signals that regulate acquisition of exhaustion-specific epigenetic programs? (2) Can we remodel the epigenetic state of Tex to an ICB-responsive state? To address these questions, we developed a novel in vitro model of human T cell dysfunction. First, we demonstrated that chronic TCR stimulation of CD8 T cells is insufficient to develop T cell exhaustion. Instead, our integrative analyses of epigenetic and transcriptional changes in CD8 T cell subsets during chronic virus infections and cancer revealed TGFβ1 as the most significant upstream regulator linked to full exhaustion in mice and humans. Indeed, we found that post-effector TGFβ1 signaling accelerates full exhaustion in chronically stimulated CD8 T cells through stable epigenetic changes linked to impaired effector function and memory potential. Therapeutic rebalancing of TGFβ1/BMP signals by blocking TGFβ1 while boosting BMP signals not only restored effector function, but also unlocked memory programs in human Tex cells. This new therapeutic approach induced a superior anti-tumor activity of human T cells and synergized the ICB response in a murine model of chronic LCMV infection. Our findings highlight the role of TGFβ1/BMP signals in T cell exhaustion and propose a novel therapeutic strategy to epigenetically reprogram fully exhausted T cells, ultimately enhancing T cell immunotherapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hazem E. Ghoneim
- 1Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State Univ. Col. of Med
- 2The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
| | - Abbey A Saadey
- 1Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State Univ. Col. of Med
| | - Amir Yousif
- 1Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State Univ. Col. of Med
| | - Nicole Osborne
- 1Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State Univ. Col. of Med
| | - Yu-Lin Chen
- 1Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State Univ. Col. of Med
| | - Brooke Laster
- 1Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State Univ. Col. of Med
| | | | - Parker Bauman
- 1Microbial Infection and Immunity, The Ohio State Univ. Col. of Med
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