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Sahraei M, Chaube B, Liu Y, Sun J, Kaplan A, Price NL, Ding W, Oyaghire S, García-Milian R, Mehta S, Reshetnyak YK, Bahal R, Fiorina P, Glazer PM, Rimm DL, Fernández-Hernando C, Suárez Y. Suppressing miR-21 activity in tumor-associated macrophages promotes an antitumor immune response. J Clin Invest 2020; 129:5518-5536. [PMID: 31710308 PMCID: PMC6877327 DOI: 10.1172/jci127125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2019] [Accepted: 09/10/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
microRNA-21 (miR-21) is the most commonly upregulated miRNA in solid tumors. This cancer-associated microRNA (oncomiR) regulates various downstream effectors associated with tumor pathogenesis during all stages of carcinogenesis. In this study, we analyzed the function of miR-21 in noncancer cells of the tumor microenvironment to further evaluate its contribution to tumor progression. We report that the expression of miR-21 in cells of the tumor immune infiltrate, and in particular in macrophages, was responsible for promoting tumor growth. Absence of miR-21 expression in tumor- associated macrophages (TAMs), caused a global rewiring of their transcriptional regulatory network that was skewed toward a proinflammatory angiostatic phenotype. This promoted an antitumoral immune response characterized by a macrophage-mediated improvement of cytotoxic T-cell responses through the induction of cytokines and chemokines, including IL-12 and C-X-C motif chemokine 10. These effects translated to a reduction in tumor neovascularization and an induction of tumor cell death that led to decreased tumor growth. Additionally, using the carrier peptide pH (low) insertion peptide, we were able to target miR-21 in TAMs, which decreased tumor growth even under conditions where miR-21 expression was deficient in cancer cells. Consequently, miR-21 inhibition in TAMs induced an angiostatic and immunostimulatory activation with potential therapeutic implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahnaz Sahraei
- Department of Comparative Medicine.,Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism (ICSNM).,Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program (VBT).,Department of Pathology
| | - Balkrishna Chaube
- Department of Comparative Medicine.,Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism (ICSNM).,Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program (VBT).,Department of Pathology
| | | | - Jonathan Sun
- Department of Comparative Medicine.,Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism (ICSNM).,Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program (VBT).,Department of Pathology
| | | | - Nathan L Price
- Department of Comparative Medicine.,Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism (ICSNM).,Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program (VBT).,Department of Pathology
| | - Wen Ding
- Department of Comparative Medicine.,Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism (ICSNM).,Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program (VBT).,Department of Pathology
| | | | | | - Sameet Mehta
- Yale Center for Genome Analysis, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Yana K Reshetnyak
- Physics Department, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, USA
| | - Raman Bahal
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
| | - Paolo Fiorina
- Division of Nephrology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | | | - Carlos Fernández-Hernando
- Department of Comparative Medicine.,Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism (ICSNM).,Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program (VBT).,Department of Pathology
| | - Yajaira Suárez
- Department of Comparative Medicine.,Program in Integrative Cell Signaling and Neurobiology of Metabolism (ICSNM).,Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program (VBT).,Department of Pathology
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Kaplan AR, Pham H, Liu Y, Oyaghire S, Bahal R, Engelman DM, Glazer PM. Ku80-Targeted pH-Sensitive Peptide-PNA Conjugates Are Tumor Selective and Sensitize Cancer Cells to Ionizing Radiation. Mol Cancer Res 2020; 18:873-882. [PMID: 32098827 DOI: 10.1158/1541-7786.mcr-19-0661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2019] [Revised: 01/19/2020] [Accepted: 02/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The development of therapeutic agents that specifically target cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue could be used to enhance the efficacy of cancer therapy without increasing its toxicity. Specific targeting of cancer cells can be achieved through the use of pH-low insertion peptides (pHLIP), which take advantage of the acidity of the tumor microenvironment to deliver cargoes selectively to tumor cells. We developed a pHLIP-peptide nucleic acid (PNA) conjugate as an antisense reagent to reduce expression of the otherwise undruggable DNA double-strand break repair factor, KU80, and thereby radiosensitize tumor cells. Increased antisense activity of the pHLIP-PNA conjugate was achieved by partial mini-PEG sidechain substitution of the PNA at the gamma position, designated pHLIP-αKu80(γ). We evaluated selective effects of pHLIP-αKu80(γ) in cancer cells in acidic culture conditions as well as in two subcutaneous mouse tumor models. Fluorescently labeled pHLIP-αKu80(γ) delivers specifically to acidic cancer cells and accumulates preferentially in tumors when injected i.v. in mice. Furthermore, pHLIP-αKu80(γ) selectively reduced KU80 expression in cells under acidic conditions and in tumors in vivo. When pHLIP-αKu80(γ) was administered to mice prior to local tumor irradiation, tumor growth was substantially reduced compared with radiation treatment alone. Furthermore, there was no evidence of acute toxicity associated with pHLIP-αKu80(γ) administration to the mice. These results establish pHLIP-αKu80(γ) as a tumor-selective radiosensitizing agent. IMPLICATIONS: This study describes a novel agent, pHLIP-αKu80(γ), which combines PNA antisense and pHLIP technologies to selectively reduce the expression of the DNA repair factor KU80 in tumors and confer tumor-selective radiosensitization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alanna R Kaplan
- Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.,Department of Pathology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Ha Pham
- Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.,University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, Florida
| | - Yanfeng Liu
- Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Stanley Oyaghire
- Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Raman Bahal
- University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
| | - Donald M Engelman
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Peter M Glazer
- Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. .,Department of Genetics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
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Malik S, Oyaghire S, Bahal R. Applications of PNA-laden nanoparticles for hematological disorders. Cell Mol Life Sci 2019; 76:1057-1065. [PMID: 30498995 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-018-2979-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2018] [Revised: 11/07/2018] [Accepted: 11/23/2018] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Safe and efficient genome editing has been an unmitigated goal for biomedical researchers since its inception. The most prevalent strategy for gene editing is the use of engineered nucleases that induce DNA damage and take advantage of cellular DNA repair machinery. This includes meganucleases, zinc-finger nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases, and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) systems. However, the clinical viability of these nucleases is marred by their off-target cleavage activity (≥ 50% in RNA-guided endonucleases). In addition, in vivo applications of CRISPR require systemic administration of Cas9 protein, mRNA, or DNA, which presents a significant delivery challenge. The development of nucleic acid probes that can recognize specific double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) regions and activate endogenous DNA repair machinery holds great promise for gene editing applications. Triplex-forming oligonucleotides (TFOs), which were introduced more than 25 years ago, are among the most extensively studied oligomeric dsDNA-targeting agents. TFOs bind duplex DNA to create a distorted helical structure, which can stimulate DNA repair and the exchange of a nearby mutated region-otherwise leading to an undesired phenotype-for a short single-stranded donor DNA that contains the corrective nucleotide sequence. Recombination can be induced within several hundred base-pairs of the TFO binding site and has been shown to depend on triplex-induced initiation of the nucleotide excision repair pathway and engagement of the homology-dependent repair pathway. Since TFOs do not possess any direct nuclease activity, their off-target effects are minimal when compared to engineered nucleases. This review comprehensively covers the advances made in peptide nucleic acid-based TFOs for site-specific gene editing and their therapeutic applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shipra Malik
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
| | - Stanley Oyaghire
- Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Raman Bahal
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
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Abstract
Heptamethine cyanine dyes are a class of near infrared (NIR) dyes that have captured the interest of the scientific community. Although applications that utilize NIR fluorescence technology are rapidly expanding, progress is limited by the lack of availability and cost of suitable compounds that can be utilized as labels and/or probes. Herein, we report the use of microwave assisted organic synthesis of five NIR cyanine dyes in yields ranging from 64-83% with a significant reduction in solvent use. Spectra characteristics including absorbance and emission spectra, molar absorptivity, quantum yield, fluorescence lifetime, and redox potentials were determined for each synthesized NIR cyanine dye.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela J Winstead
- Morgan State University, 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore, Maryland 21251, USA
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