Xu Yaping, Zhao Wenxiu, Xu Jianfeng, Li Jie, Hong Zaifa, Yin Zhenyu, Wang Xiaomin
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Xiamen University, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Chronic Liver Disease and Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Xiamen University Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital), Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Department of Basic Medicine, Xiamen Medicine College, Fujian, China.
Oncotarget. 2016 Feb 23;7(8):8866-78. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.6839.
Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are critical mediators of immunosuppression and the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Our previous work indicates that HSCs promote HCC progression by enhancing immunosuppressive cell populations including myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and regulatory T cells (Tregs). MDSCs are induced by inflammatory cytokines (e.g., prostaglandins) and are important in immune suppression. However, how HSCs mediate expansion of MDSCs is uncertain. Thus, we studied activated HSCs that could induce MDSCs from bone marrow cells and noted that HSC-induced MDSCs up-regulated immunosuppressive activity via iNOS, Arg-1, and IL-4Rα. After treating cells with a COX-2 inhibitor or an EP4 antagonist, we established that HSC-induced MDSC accumulation was mediated by the COX2-PGE2-EP4 signaling. Furthermore, in vivo animal studies confirmed that inhibition of HSC-derived PGE2 could inhibit HSC-induced MDSC accumulation and HCC growth. Thus, our data show that HSCs are required for MDSC accumulation mediated by the COX2-PGE2-EP4 pathway, and these data are the first to link HSC and MDSC subsets in HCC immune microenvironment and provide a rationale for targeting PGE2 signaling for HCC therapy.
肝星状细胞(HSCs)是免疫抑制和肝细胞癌(HCC)发病机制的关键介质。我们之前的研究表明,肝星状细胞通过增强包括髓源性抑制细胞(MDSCs)和调节性T细胞(Tregs)在内的免疫抑制细胞群体来促进肝癌进展。髓源性抑制细胞由炎性细胞因子(如前列腺素)诱导产生,在免疫抑制中起重要作用。然而,肝星状细胞如何介导髓源性抑制细胞的扩增尚不清楚。因此,我们研究了能够从骨髓细胞诱导产生髓源性抑制细胞的活化肝星状细胞,并注意到肝星状细胞诱导的髓源性抑制细胞通过诱导型一氧化氮合酶(iNOS)、精氨酸酶-1(Arg-1)和白细胞介素-4受体α(IL-4Rα)上调免疫抑制活性。在用环氧化酶-2(COX-2)抑制剂或EP4拮抗剂处理细胞后,我们确定肝星状细胞诱导的髓源性抑制细胞积累是由COX2-前列腺素E2(PGE2)-EP4信号介导的。此外,体内动物研究证实,抑制肝星状细胞衍生的前列腺素E2可抑制肝星状细胞诱导的髓源性抑制细胞积累和肝癌生长。因此,我们的数据表明,COX2-PGE2-EP4途径介导的髓源性抑制细胞积累需要肝星状细胞,这些数据首次将肝癌免疫微环境中的肝星状细胞和髓源性抑制细胞亚群联系起来,并为靶向前列腺素E2信号进行肝癌治疗提供了理论依据。
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