Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Data Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Center for Functional Cancer Epigenetics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Department of Data Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Center for Functional Cancer Epigenetics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Cell. 2021 Oct 14;184(21):5357-5374.e22. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.09.006. Epub 2021 Sep 27.
Despite remarkable clinical efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) in cancer treatment, ICB benefits for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remain limited. Through pooled in vivo CRISPR knockout (KO) screens in syngeneic TNBC mouse models, we found that deletion of the E3 ubiquitin ligase Cop1 in cancer cells decreases secretion of macrophage-associated chemokines, reduces tumor macrophage infiltration, enhances anti-tumor immunity, and strengthens ICB response. Transcriptomics, epigenomics, and proteomics analyses revealed that Cop1 functions through proteasomal degradation of the C/ebpδ protein. The Cop1 substrate Trib2 functions as a scaffold linking Cop1 and C/ebpδ, which leads to polyubiquitination of C/ebpδ. In addition, deletion of the E3 ubiquitin ligase Cop1 in cancer cells stabilizes C/ebpδ to suppress expression of macrophage chemoattractant genes. Our integrated approach implicates Cop1 as a target for improving cancer immunotherapy efficacy in TNBC by regulating chemokine secretion and macrophage infiltration in the tumor microenvironment.
尽管免疫检查点阻断 (ICB) 在癌症治疗中具有显著的临床疗效,但 ICB 对三阴性乳腺癌 (TNBC) 的益处仍然有限。通过在同种异体 TNBC 小鼠模型中进行的 pooled in vivo CRISPR knockout (KO) 筛选,我们发现癌细胞中 E3 泛素连接酶 Cop1 的缺失会减少与巨噬细胞相关的趋化因子的分泌,减少肿瘤巨噬细胞浸润,增强抗肿瘤免疫,并增强 ICB 反应。转录组学、表观基因组学和蛋白质组学分析表明,Cop1 通过蛋白酶体降解 C/ebpδ 蛋白发挥作用。Cop1 的底物 Trib2 作为连接 Cop1 和 C/ebpδ 的支架,导致 C/ebpδ 的多泛素化。此外,癌细胞中 E3 泛素连接酶 Cop1 的缺失稳定了 C/ebpδ,从而抑制了巨噬细胞趋化因子基因的表达。我们的综合方法表明,Cop1 可作为通过调节肿瘤微环境中趋化因子分泌和巨噬细胞浸润来提高 TNBC 癌症免疫治疗疗效的靶点。