{"title":"Inhibition of PCSK9 enhances the anti-hepatocellular carcinoma effects of TCR-T cells and anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.","authors":"Weikang Xu, Minli Hu, Xinyu Lu, Yueqiong Lao, Na Ma, Yiyue Wang, Jing Li, Xingyuan Chen, Shiming Liu, Jing Liu, Wei Zhu, Hui Yang","doi":"10.7150/ijbs.93668","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>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<sup>+</sup> 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 <i>in vivo</i>. Moreover, PCSK9 inhibitor suppressed HCC growth dependent on CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells. Mechanically, pharmacological inhibition of PCSK9 promoted low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR)-mediated activation of mTORC1 signaling in CD8<sup>+</sup> 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.</p>","PeriodicalId":13762,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Biological Sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11302870/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Biological Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.7150/ijbs.93668","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
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 in vivo. 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.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Biological Sciences is a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal published by Ivyspring International Publisher. It dedicates itself to publishing original articles, reviews, and short research communications across all domains of biological sciences.