Institute of Immunopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Institute of Immunopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Cancer Lett. 2022 Oct 28;547:215880. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2022.215880. Epub 2022 Aug 16.
Sorafenib is the first-line treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, it is difficult to alleviate this disease process using single-agent chemotherapy. Using combination therapies for advanced HCC has become a major trend. Given that STAT3 overexpression is involved in chemotherapy resistance and the immune escape of HCC cells, it has become a potential therapeutic target for HCC in recent years. GEO database analysis showed that STAT3 levels in tumor tissues from non-responders were significantly higher than those in responders to sorafenib. Our studies demonstrated that STAT3 knockdown promoted sorafenib-induced ER stress-induced apoptosis. Importantly, the DNA released by dead HCC cells stimulated the cGAS-STING signaling pathway in CD103 DCs and promoted type I interferon production, thus, enhancing the anti-tumor function of CD8 T and NK cells. In conclusion, our results revealed that the combination strategy of sorafenib and STAT3 knockdown might be a potential treatment strategy for HCC, directly and efficiently disturbing the tumor features of HCC cells while improving the tumor microenvironment via the cGAS-STING-Type I IFNs axis of DCs, inducing anti-HCC immune responses.
索拉非尼是治疗晚期肝细胞癌(HCC)的一线药物。然而,单一化疗药物很难缓解这种疾病过程。因此,联合治疗晚期 HCC 已成为一种主要趋势。近年来,STAT3 过表达参与 HCC 细胞的化疗耐药和免疫逃逸,已成为 HCC 的潜在治疗靶点。GEO 数据库分析显示,对索拉非尼无应答者的肿瘤组织中 STAT3 水平明显高于有应答者。我们的研究表明,STAT3 敲低可促进索拉非尼诱导的 ER 应激诱导的细胞凋亡。重要的是,死亡 HCC 细胞释放的 DNA 可刺激 CD103 DC 中的 cGAS-STING 信号通路,促进 I 型干扰素的产生,从而增强 CD8 T 和 NK 细胞的抗肿瘤功能。总之,我们的结果表明,索拉非尼和 STAT3 敲低的联合策略可能是 HCC 的一种潜在治疗策略,通过 DC 的 cGAS-STING-I 型 IFNs 轴直接且有效地干扰 HCC 细胞的肿瘤特征,同时改善肿瘤微环境,诱导抗 HCC 免疫反应。
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