School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Department of Medical Oncology, Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
J Cell Physiol. 2021 May;236(5):3918-3928. doi: 10.1002/jcp.30135. Epub 2020 Nov 4.
Various factors in the tumor microenvironment (TME) regulate the expression of PD-L1 in cancer cells. In TME, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play a crucial role in tumor progression, metastasis, and drug resistance. Emerging evidence suggests that MSCs can modulate the immune-suppression capacity of TME through the stimulation of PD-L1 expression in various cancers; nonetheless, their role in the induction of PD-L1 in breast cancer remained elusive. Here, we assessed the potential of MSCs in the stimulation of PD-L1 expression in a low PD-L1 breast cancer cell line and explored its associated cytokine. We assessed the expression of MSCs-related genes and their correlation with PD-L1 across 1826 breast cancer patients from the METABRIC cohort. After culturing an ER+/differentiated/low PD-L1 breast cancer cells with MSCs conditioned-medium (MSC-CM) in a microfluidic device, a variety of in-vitro assays was carried out to determine the role of MSC-CM in breast cancer cells' phenotype plasticity, invasion, and its effects on induction of PD-L1 expression. In-silico analysis showed a positive association between MSCs-related genes and PD-L1 expression in various types of breast cancer. Through functional assays, we revealed that MSC-CM not only prompts a phenotype switch but also stimulates PD-L1 expression at the protein level through secretion of various cytokines, especially CCL5. Treatment of MSCs with cytokine inhibitor pirfenidone showed a significant reduction in the secretion of CCL5 and consequently, expression of PD-L1 in breast cancer cells. We concluded that MSCs-derived CCL5 may act as a PD-L1 stimulator in breast cancer.
肿瘤微环境(TME)中的各种因素调节癌细胞中 PD-L1 的表达。在 TME 中,间充质干细胞(MSCs)在肿瘤进展、转移和耐药性中起着至关重要的作用。新出现的证据表明,MSCs 可以通过刺激各种癌症中 PD-L1 的表达来调节 TME 的免疫抑制能力;然而,它们在乳腺癌中诱导 PD-L1 的作用仍不清楚。在这里,我们评估了 MSCs 在刺激低 PD-L1 乳腺癌细胞系中 PD-L1 表达的潜力,并探讨了其相关细胞因子。我们评估了 METABRIC 队列中 1826 名乳腺癌患者中与 MSCs 相关的基因的表达及其与 PD-L1 的相关性。在微流控装置中用 MSCs 条件培养基(MSC-CM)培养 ER+/分化/低 PD-L1 乳腺癌细胞后,进行了各种体外实验,以确定 MSC-CM 在乳腺癌细胞表型可塑性、侵袭性及其对 PD-L1 表达诱导中的作用。计算机分析显示,在各种类型的乳腺癌中,MSCs 相关基因与 PD-L1 表达呈正相关。通过功能实验,我们揭示了 MSC-CM 不仅能促使表型转换,还能通过分泌各种细胞因子,特别是 CCL5,刺激 PD-L1 蛋白水平的表达。用细胞因子抑制剂 pirfenidone 处理 MSCs 后,CCL5 的分泌显著减少,从而导致乳腺癌细胞中 PD-L1 的表达减少。我们得出结论,MSCs 衍生的 CCL5 可能在乳腺癌中作为 PD-L1 刺激物发挥作用。
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