Pharmacologic targeting of Nedd8-activating enzyme reinvigorates T-cell responses in lymphoid neoplasia.
Xiaoguang WangCanping ChenDan VuongSonia Rodriguez-RodriguezVi LamCarly RolederJing Hong WangSwetha KambhampatiAllison BergerNathan D PennockPallawi TorkaFrancisco Hernandez-IlizaliturriTanya SiddiqiLili WangZheng XiaAlexey V DanilovPublished in: Leukemia (2023)
Neddylation is a sequential enzyme-based process which regulates the function of E3 Cullin-RING ligase (CRL) and thus degradation of substrate proteins. Here we show that CD8 + T cells are a direct target for therapeutically relevant anti-lymphoma activity of pevonedistat, a Nedd8-activating enzyme (NAE) inhibitor. Pevonedistat-treated patient-derived CD8 + T cells upregulated TNFα and IFNγ and exhibited enhanced cytotoxicity. Pevonedistat induced CD8 + T-cell inflamed microenvironment and delayed tumor progression in A20 syngeneic lymphoma model. This anti-tumor effect lessened when CD8 + T cells lost the ability to engage tumors through MHC class I interactions, achieved either through CD8 + T-cell depletion or genetic knockout of B2M. Meanwhile, loss of UBE2M in tumor did not alter efficacy of pevonedistat. Concurrent blockade of NAE and PD-1 led to enhanced tumor immune infiltration, T-cell activation and chemokine expression and synergistically restricted tumor growth. shRNA-mediated knockdown of HIF-1α, a CRL substrate, abrogated the in vitro effects of pevonedistat, suggesting that NAE inhibition modulates T-cell function in HIF-1α-dependent manner. scRNA-Seq-based clinical analyses in lymphoma patients receiving pevonedistat therapy demonstrated upregulation of interferon response signatures in immune cells. Thus, targeting NAE enhances the inflammatory T-cell state, providing rationale for checkpoint blockade-based combination therapy.
Keyphrases
- newly diagnosed
- combination therapy
- poor prognosis
- diffuse large b cell lymphoma
- genome wide
- signaling pathway
- stem cells
- dendritic cells
- rheumatoid arthritis
- clinical trial
- immune response
- oxidative stress
- endothelial cells
- gene expression
- dna damage
- high glucose
- high grade
- cell proliferation
- dna methylation
- binding protein
- radiation therapy
- drug delivery
- mesenchymal stem cells
- bone marrow
- stress induced