Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Immunology Research; School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cai Lun Rd. Shanghai 201203, P. R. China.
Department of Immunology and Pathogenic Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1200 Cai Lun Rd. Shanghai 201203, P. R. China.
Int J Biol Sci. 2022 Jan 1;18(2):585-598. doi: 10.7150/ijbs.65019. eCollection 2022.
Natural killer (NK) cell-based immunotherapy is clinically limited due to insufficient tumor infiltration in solid tumors. We have previously found that the natural product rocaglamide (RocA) can enhance NK cell-mediated killing of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells by inhibiting autophagy, and autophagic inhibition has been shown to increase NK cell tumor infiltration in melanoma. Therefore, we hypothesized that RocA could increase NK cell infiltration in NSCLC by autophagy inhibition. Flow cytometry, RNA-sequencing, real-time PCR, Western blotting analysis, and xenograft tumor model were utilized to assess the infiltration of NK cells and the underlying mechanism. RocA significantly increased the infiltration of NK cells and the expressions of CCL5 and CXCL10 in NSCLC cells, which could not be reversed by the inhibitions of autophagy/ULK1, JNK and NF-κB. However, such up-regulation could be suppressed by the inhibitions of TKB1 and STING. Furthermore, RocA dramatically activated the cGAS (cyclic GMP-AMP synthase)-STING (stimulator of interferon genes) signaling pathway, and the inhibition/depletion of STING ablated the up-regulation of CCL5 and CXCL10, NK cell infiltration, and tumor regression induced by RocA. Besides, RocA damaged mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and promoted the cytoplasmic release of mtDNA. The mPTP inhibitor cyclosporin A could reverse RocA-induced cytoplasmic release of mtDNA. RocA could promote NK cell infiltration by activating cGAS-STING signaling via targeting mtDNA, but not by inhibiting autophagy. Taken together, our current findings suggested that RocA was a potent cGAS-STING agonist and had a promising potential in cancer immunotherapy, especially in NK cell-based immunotherapy.
自然杀伤 (NK) 细胞为基础的免疫疗法在临床上受到限制,因为在实体瘤中浸润不足。我们之前发现,天然产物罗卡酰胺 (RocA) 可以通过抑制自噬来增强 NK 细胞对非小细胞肺癌 (NSCLC) 细胞的杀伤作用,并且自噬抑制已被证明可以增加黑色素瘤中 NK 细胞的肿瘤浸润。因此,我们假设 RocA 可以通过自噬抑制增加 NSCLC 中 NK 细胞的浸润。 流式细胞术、RNA 测序、实时 PCR、Western blot 分析和异种移植肿瘤模型用于评估 NK 细胞的浸润和潜在机制。 RocA 显著增加了 NSCLC 细胞中 NK 细胞的浸润和 CCL5 和 CXCL10 的表达,自噬/ULK1、JNK 和 NF-κB 的抑制不能逆转这种上调。然而,这种上调可以被 TKB1 和 STING 的抑制所抑制。此外,RocA 显著激活了 cGAS(环鸟苷酸-AMP 合酶)-STING(干扰素基因刺激物)信号通路,而 STING 的抑制/耗竭消除了 RocA 诱导的 CCL5 和 CXCL10 的上调、NK 细胞浸润和肿瘤消退。此外,RocA 破坏线粒体 DNA(mtDNA)并促进 mtDNA 的细胞质释放。mPTP 抑制剂环孢素 A 可以逆转 RocA 诱导的 mtDNA 细胞质释放。 RocA 可以通过靶向 mtDNA 激活 cGAS-STING 信号来促进 NK 细胞浸润,而不是通过抑制自噬。总之,我们目前的研究结果表明,RocA 是一种有效的 cGAS-STING 激动剂,在癌症免疫治疗,特别是 NK 细胞为基础的免疫治疗中具有广阔的应用前景。
Cell Commun Signal. 2021-5-20
Int J Mol Sci. 2025-6-29
Transl Cancer Res. 2025-4-30
Front Cardiovasc Med. 2025-4-25
Clin Exp Metastasis. 2025-4-18
Int J Mol Sci. 2020-10-26
Oncoimmunology. 2020-7-22
Immunity. 2020-7-14
EMBO Rep. 2020-4-3
Cell. 2020-3-19
Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2020-3-4