Xu Weikang, Hu Minli, Lu Xinyu, Lao Yueqiong, Ma Na, Wang Yiyue, Li Jing, Chen Xingyuan, Liu Shiming, Liu Jing, Zhu Wei, Yang Hui
Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510220, China.
Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China; State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research; Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases Research in South China, Ministry of Education; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis Research; Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Viral Hepatitis; Guangdong Institute of Hepatology. Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, China.
Int J Biol Sci. 2024 Jul 15;20(10):3942-3955. doi: 10.7150/ijbs.93668. eCollection 2024.
T cells play important roles in antitumor immunity. However, given that the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor microenvironment confers resistance to T cell-based immunotherapies, novel strategies to boost T cell-mediated antitumor efficacy are urgently needed for the treatment of HCC. Here, we show that high proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type9 (PCSK9) expression was negatively associated with HCC patient's overall survival and markers of CD8 T cells. Pharmacological inhibition of PCSK9 enhanced tumor-specific killing and downregulated PD-1 expression of AFP-specific TCR-T. Inhibition of PCSK9 significantly enhances the anti-HCC efficacy of TCR-T cells and anti-PD-1 immunotherapy . Moreover, PCSK9 inhibitor suppressed HCC growth dependent on CD8 T cells. Mechanically, pharmacological inhibition of PCSK9 promoted low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR)-mediated activation of mTORC1 signaling in CD8 T cells. LDLR deficiency was shown to impair cellular mTORC1 signaling and the anti-HCC function of CD8 T cells. On the basis of our findings in this study, we propose a potential metabolic intervention strategy that could be used to enhance the antitumor effects of immunotherapy for HCC.
T细胞在抗肿瘤免疫中发挥着重要作用。然而,鉴于肝细胞癌(HCC)肿瘤微环境赋予了对基于T细胞的免疫疗法的抗性,因此迫切需要新的策略来提高T细胞介导的抗肿瘤疗效以治疗HCC。在此,我们表明前蛋白转化酶枯草杆菌蛋白酶/kexin 9型(PCSK9)的高表达与HCC患者的总生存期及CD8 T细胞标志物呈负相关。PCSK9的药理学抑制增强了肿瘤特异性杀伤,并下调了甲胎蛋白特异性TCR-T的PD-1表达。抑制PCSK9显著增强了TCR-T细胞和抗PD-1免疫疗法的抗HCC疗效。此外,PCSK9抑制剂抑制了依赖CD8 T细胞的HCC生长。从机制上讲,PCSK9的药理学抑制促进了低密度脂蛋白受体(LDLR)介导的CD8 T细胞中mTORC1信号的激活。低密度脂蛋白受体缺陷被证明会损害细胞mTORC1信号及CD8 T细胞的抗HCC功能。基于我们在本研究中的发现,我们提出了一种潜在的代谢干预策略,可用于增强HCC免疫疗法的抗肿瘤效果。