Pub Date : 2024-10-01DOI: 10.1038/s41421-024-00713-9
Yuehua Liu, Xiaoqian Nie, Xingyun Yao, Huafeng Shou, Yang Yuan, Yun Ge, Xiangmin Tong, Hsiang-Ying Lee, Xiaofei Gao
Mature erythrocytes are known to lack major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins. However, the presence of MHC molecules on erythrocytes has been occasionally reported, though without a defined function. In this study, we designed erythrocyte conjugated solely with a fusion protein consisting of an antigenic peptide linked to MHC class I (MHC-I) protein, termed MHC-I‒Ery. The modified erythrocyte, decorated with the peptide derived from human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 oncoprotein E6/E7, effectively activated antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from HPV16+ cervical cancer patients. Additionally, MHC-I‒Ery monotherapy was shown to inhibit antigen-positive tumor growth in mice. This treatment immediately activated CD8+ T cells and reduced suppressive myeloid cells in the spleen, leading to systemic anti-tumor activity. Safety and tolerability evaluations of MHC-I‒Ery in non-human primates further supported its clinical potential. Our results first demonstrated that erythrocytes equipped solely with antigen peptide‒MHC-I complexes can robustly stimulate the immune system, suggesting a novel and promising approach for advancing cancer immunotherapy.
众所周知,成熟的红细胞缺乏主要组织相容性复合体(MHC)蛋白。不过,偶尔也有报道称红细胞上存在 MHC 分子,但没有明确的功能。在这项研究中,我们设计了仅与一种融合蛋白结合的红细胞,这种融合蛋白由与 MHC I 类蛋白质(MHC-I)相连的抗原肽组成,被称为 MHC-I-Ery。经修饰的红细胞上装饰有来自人类乳头瘤病毒(HPV)16 肿瘤蛋白 E6/E7 的多肽,能有效激活 HPV16+ 宫颈癌患者外周血单核细胞(PBMC)中的抗原特异性 CD8+ T 细胞。此外,MHC-I-Ery 单药疗法还能抑制抗原阳性肿瘤在小鼠体内的生长。这种疗法能立即激活 CD8+ T 细胞,减少脾脏中的抑制性髓细胞,从而产生全身抗肿瘤活性。MHC-I-Ery在非人灵长类动物中的安全性和耐受性评估进一步证实了它的临床潜力。我们的研究结果首次证明了红细胞仅配备抗原肽-MHC-I 复合物就能强有力地刺激免疫系统,为推进癌症免疫疗法提供了一种新颖而有前景的方法。
{"title":"Developing an erythrocyte‒MHC-I conjugate for cancer treatment.","authors":"Yuehua Liu, Xiaoqian Nie, Xingyun Yao, Huafeng Shou, Yang Yuan, Yun Ge, Xiangmin Tong, Hsiang-Ying Lee, Xiaofei Gao","doi":"10.1038/s41421-024-00713-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41421-024-00713-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mature erythrocytes are known to lack major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins. However, the presence of MHC molecules on erythrocytes has been occasionally reported, though without a defined function. In this study, we designed erythrocyte conjugated solely with a fusion protein consisting of an antigenic peptide linked to MHC class I (MHC-I) protein, termed MHC-I‒Ery. The modified erythrocyte, decorated with the peptide derived from human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 oncoprotein E6/E7, effectively activated antigen-specific CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from HPV16<sup>+</sup> cervical cancer patients. Additionally, MHC-I‒Ery monotherapy was shown to inhibit antigen-positive tumor growth in mice. This treatment immediately activated CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells and reduced suppressive myeloid cells in the spleen, leading to systemic anti-tumor activity. Safety and tolerability evaluations of MHC-I‒Ery in non-human primates further supported its clinical potential. Our results first demonstrated that erythrocytes equipped solely with antigen peptide‒MHC-I complexes can robustly stimulate the immune system, suggesting a novel and promising approach for advancing cancer immunotherapy.</p>","PeriodicalId":9674,"journal":{"name":"Cell Discovery","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11443136/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142342290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-24DOI: 10.1038/s41421-024-00719-3
Fan Zhai, Siming Kong, Shi Song, Qianying Guo, Ling Ding, Jiaqi Zhang, Nan Wang, Ying Kuo, Shuo Guan, Peng Yuan, Liying Yan, Zhiqiang Yan, Jie Qiao
Pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) is used in approximately half of in vitro fertilization cycles. Given the limited understanding of the genetics of human embryos, the current use of PGT-A is based on biologically uncertain assumptions and unvalidated guidelines, leading to the possibility of disposing of embryos with pregnancy potential. We isolated and sequenced all single cells (1133) from in vitro cultured 20 human blastocysts. We found that all blastocysts exhibited mosaicism with mitotic-induced aneuploid cells and showed an ~25% aneuploidy rate per embryo. Moreover, 70% (14/20) of blastocysts contained 'chromosome-complementary' cells, suggesting genetic mosaicism is underestimated in routine PGT-A. Additionally, the analysis of 20,945 single cells from day 8-14 embryos (in vitro cultured) and embryonic/fetal organs showed that 97% of the analyzed embryos/organs were mosaic. Over 96% of their aneuploid cells harbored ≤ 2 chromosome errors. Our findings have revealed a high prevalence of mosaicism in human embryos.
{"title":"Human embryos harbor complex mosaicism with broad presence of aneuploid cells during early development.","authors":"Fan Zhai, Siming Kong, Shi Song, Qianying Guo, Ling Ding, Jiaqi Zhang, Nan Wang, Ying Kuo, Shuo Guan, Peng Yuan, Liying Yan, Zhiqiang Yan, Jie Qiao","doi":"10.1038/s41421-024-00719-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41421-024-00719-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) is used in approximately half of in vitro fertilization cycles. Given the limited understanding of the genetics of human embryos, the current use of PGT-A is based on biologically uncertain assumptions and unvalidated guidelines, leading to the possibility of disposing of embryos with pregnancy potential. We isolated and sequenced all single cells (1133) from in vitro cultured 20 human blastocysts. We found that all blastocysts exhibited mosaicism with mitotic-induced aneuploid cells and showed an ~25% aneuploidy rate per embryo. Moreover, 70% (14/20) of blastocysts contained 'chromosome-complementary' cells, suggesting genetic mosaicism is underestimated in routine PGT-A. Additionally, the analysis of 20,945 single cells from day 8-14 embryos (in vitro cultured) and embryonic/fetal organs showed that 97% of the analyzed embryos/organs were mosaic. Over 96% of their aneuploid cells harbored ≤ 2 chromosome errors. Our findings have revealed a high prevalence of mosaicism in human embryos.</p>","PeriodicalId":9674,"journal":{"name":"Cell Discovery","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11420220/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142307180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-17DOI: 10.1038/s41421-024-00715-7
Wenxiao Yang, Luo Hong, Linwei Guo, Yunjin Wang, Xiangchen Han, Boyue Han, Zheng Xing, Guoliang Zhang, Hongxia Zhou, Chao Chen, Hong Ling, Zhimin Shao, Xin Hu
Metabolic dysregulation is prominent in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), yet therapeutic strategies targeting cancer metabolism are limited. Here, utilizing multiomics data from our TNBC cohort (n = 465), we demonstrated widespread splicing deregulation and increased spliceosome abundance in the glycolytic TNBC subtype. We identified SNRNP200 as a crucial mediator of glucose-driven metabolic reprogramming. Mechanistically, glucose induces acetylation at SNRNP200 K1610, preventing its proteasomal degradation. Augmented SNRNP200 then facilitates splicing key metabolic enzyme-encoding genes (GAPDH, ALDOA, and GSS), leading to increased lactic acid and glutathione production. Targeting SNRNP200 with antisense oligonucleotide therapy impedes tumor metabolism and enhances the efficacy of anti-PD-1 therapy by activating intratumoral CD8+ T cells while suppressing regulatory T cells. Clinically, higher SNRNP200 levels indicate an inferior response to immunotherapy in glycolytic TNBCs. Overall, our study revealed the intricate interplay between RNA splicing and metabolic dysregulation, suggesting an innovative combination strategy for immunotherapy in glycolytic TNBCs.
{"title":"Targeting SNRNP200-induced splicing dysregulation offers an immunotherapy opportunity for glycolytic triple-negative breast cancer","authors":"Wenxiao Yang, Luo Hong, Linwei Guo, Yunjin Wang, Xiangchen Han, Boyue Han, Zheng Xing, Guoliang Zhang, Hongxia Zhou, Chao Chen, Hong Ling, Zhimin Shao, Xin Hu","doi":"10.1038/s41421-024-00715-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41421-024-00715-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Metabolic dysregulation is prominent in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), yet therapeutic strategies targeting cancer metabolism are limited. Here, utilizing multiomics data from our TNBC cohort (<i>n</i> = 465), we demonstrated widespread splicing deregulation and increased spliceosome abundance in the glycolytic TNBC subtype. We identified SNRNP200 as a crucial mediator of glucose-driven metabolic reprogramming. Mechanistically, glucose induces acetylation at SNRNP200 K1610, preventing its proteasomal degradation. Augmented SNRNP200 then facilitates splicing key metabolic enzyme-encoding genes (<i>GAPDH</i>, <i>ALDOA</i>, and <i>GSS</i>), leading to increased lactic acid and glutathione production. Targeting SNRNP200 with antisense oligonucleotide therapy impedes tumor metabolism and enhances the efficacy of anti-PD-1 therapy by activating intratumoral CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells while suppressing regulatory T cells. Clinically, higher SNRNP200 levels indicate an inferior response to immunotherapy in glycolytic TNBCs. Overall, our study revealed the intricate interplay between RNA splicing and metabolic dysregulation, suggesting an innovative combination strategy for immunotherapy in glycolytic TNBCs.</p>","PeriodicalId":9674,"journal":{"name":"Cell Discovery","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":33.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142255888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Adult skeletal muscle stem cells, also known satellite cells (SCs), are quiescent and activate in response to injury. However, the activation mechanisms of quiescent SCs (QSCs) remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated the metabolic regulation of SC activation by identifying regulatory metabolites that promote SC activation. Using targeted metabolomics, we found that spermidine acts as a regulatory metabolite to promote SC activation and muscle regeneration in mice. Mechanistically, spermidine activates SCs via generating hypusinated eIF5A. Using SC-specific eIF5A-knockout (KO) and Myod-KO mice, we further found that eIF5A is required for spermidine-mediated SC activation by controlling MyoD translation. More significantly, depletion of eIF5A in SCs results in impaired muscle regeneration in mice. Together, the findings of our study define a novel mechanism that is essential for SC activation and acts via spermidine-eIF5A-mediated MyoD translation. Our findings suggest that the spermidine-eIF5A axis represents a promising pharmacological target in efforts to activate endogenous SCs for the treatment of muscular disease.
{"title":"Spermidine-eIF5A axis is essential for muscle stem cell activation via translational control","authors":"Qianying Zhang, Wanhong Han, Rimao Wu, Shixian Deng, Jiemiao Meng, Yuanping Yang, Lili Li, Mingwei Sun, Heng Ai, Yingxi Chen, Qinyao Liu, Tian Gao, Xingchen Niu, Haixia Liu, Li Zhang, Dan Zhang, Meihong Chen, Pengbin Yin, Licheng Zhang, Peifu Tang, Dahai Zhu, Yong Zhang, Hu Li","doi":"10.1038/s41421-024-00712-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41421-024-00712-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Adult skeletal muscle stem cells, also known satellite cells (SCs), are quiescent and activate in response to injury. However, the activation mechanisms of quiescent SCs (QSCs) remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated the metabolic regulation of SC activation by identifying regulatory metabolites that promote SC activation. Using targeted metabolomics, we found that spermidine acts as a regulatory metabolite to promote SC activation and muscle regeneration in mice. Mechanistically, spermidine activates SCs via generating hypusinated eIF5A. Using SC-specific <i>eIF5A</i>-knockout (KO) and <i>Myod</i>-KO mice, we further found that eIF5A is required for spermidine-mediated SC activation by controlling MyoD translation. More significantly, depletion of eIF5A in SCs results in impaired muscle regeneration in mice. Together, the findings of our study define a novel mechanism that is essential for SC activation and acts via spermidine-eIF5A-mediated MyoD translation. Our findings suggest that the spermidine-eIF5A axis represents a promising pharmacological target in efforts to activate endogenous SCs for the treatment of muscular disease.</p>","PeriodicalId":9674,"journal":{"name":"Cell Discovery","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":33.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142180176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-10DOI: 10.1038/s41421-024-00728-2
Bingxin Zhou, Lirong Zheng, Banghao Wu, Kai Yi, Bozitao Zhong, Yang Tan, Qian Liu, Pietro Liò, Liang Hong
Deep learning-based methods for generating functional proteins address the growing need for novel biocatalysts, allowing for precise tailoring of functionalities to meet specific requirements. This advancement leads to the development of highly efficient and specialized proteins with diverse applications across scientific, technological, and biomedical fields. This study establishes a pipeline for protein sequence generation with a conditional protein diffusion model, namely CPDiffusion, to create diverse sequences of proteins with enhanced functions. CPDiffusion accommodates protein-specific conditions, such as secondary structures and highly conserved amino acids. Without relying on extensive training data, CPDiffusion effectively captures highly conserved residues and sequence features for specific protein families. We applied CPDiffusion to generate artificial sequences of Argonaute (Ago) proteins based on the backbone structures of wild-type (WT) Kurthia massiliensis Ago (KmAgo) and Pyrococcus furiosus Ago (PfAgo), which are complex multi-domain programmable endonucleases. The generated sequences deviate by up to nearly 400 amino acids from their WT templates. Experimental tests demonstrated that the majority of the generated proteins for both KmAgo and PfAgo show unambiguous activity in DNA cleavage, with many of them exhibiting superior activity as compared to the WT. These findings underscore CPDiffusion’s remarkable success rate in generating novel sequences for proteins with complex structures and functions in a single step, leading to enhanced activity. This approach facilitates the design of enzymes with multi-domain molecular structures and intricate functions through in silico generation and screening, all accomplished without the need for supervision from labeled data.
{"title":"A conditional protein diffusion model generates artificial programmable endonuclease sequences with enhanced activity","authors":"Bingxin Zhou, Lirong Zheng, Banghao Wu, Kai Yi, Bozitao Zhong, Yang Tan, Qian Liu, Pietro Liò, Liang Hong","doi":"10.1038/s41421-024-00728-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41421-024-00728-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Deep learning-based methods for generating functional proteins address the growing need for novel biocatalysts, allowing for precise tailoring of functionalities to meet specific requirements. This advancement leads to the development of highly efficient and specialized proteins with diverse applications across scientific, technological, and biomedical fields. This study establishes a pipeline for protein sequence generation with a conditional protein diffusion model, namely CPDiffusion, to create diverse sequences of proteins with enhanced functions. CPDiffusion accommodates protein-specific conditions, such as secondary structures and highly conserved amino acids. Without relying on extensive training data, CPDiffusion effectively captures highly conserved residues and sequence features for specific protein families. We applied CPDiffusion to generate artificial sequences of Argonaute (Ago) proteins based on the backbone structures of wild-type (WT) <i>Kurthia massiliensis</i> Ago (KmAgo) and <i>Pyrococcus furiosus</i> Ago (PfAgo), which are complex multi-domain programmable endonucleases. The generated sequences deviate by up to nearly 400 amino acids from their WT templates. Experimental tests demonstrated that the majority of the generated proteins for both KmAgo and PfAgo show unambiguous activity in DNA cleavage, with many of them exhibiting superior activity as compared to the WT. These findings underscore CPDiffusion’s remarkable success rate in generating novel sequences for proteins with complex structures and functions in a single step, leading to enhanced activity. This approach facilitates the design of enzymes with multi-domain molecular structures and intricate functions through in silico generation and screening, all accomplished without the need for supervision from labeled data.</p>","PeriodicalId":9674,"journal":{"name":"Cell Discovery","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":33.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142180175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-04DOI: 10.1038/s41421-024-00703-x
Ying Jin, Yuefeng Wu, Alexandre Reuben, Liang Zhu, Carl M Gay, Qingzhe Wu, Xintong Zhou, Haomin Mo, Qi Zheng, Junyu Ren, Zhaoyuan Fang, Teng Peng, Nan Wang, Liang Ma, Yun Fan, Hai Song, Jianjun Zhang, Ming Chen
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive pulmonary neuroendocrine malignancy featured by cold tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), limited benefit from immunotherapy, and poor survival. The spatial heterogeneity of TIME significantly associated with anti-tumor immunity has not been systemically studied in SCLC. We performed ultra-high-plex Digital Spatial Profiling on 132 tissue microarray cores from 44 treatment-naive limited-stage SCLC tumors. Incorporating single-cell RNA-sequencing data from a local cohort and published SCLC data, we established a spatial proteo-transcriptomic landscape covering over 18,000 genes and 60 key immuno-oncology proteins that participate in signaling pathways affecting tumorigenesis, immune regulation, and cancer metabolism across 3 pathologically defined spatial compartments (pan-CK-positive tumor nest; CD45/CD3-positive tumor stroma; para-tumor). Our study depicted the spatial transcriptomic and proteomic TIME architecture of SCLC, indicating clear intra-tumor heterogeneity dictated via canonical neuroendocrine subtyping markers; revealed the enrichment of innate immune cells and functionally impaired B cells in tumor nest and suggested potentially important immunoregulatory roles of monocytes/macrophages. We identified RE1 silencing factor (REST) as a potential biomarker for SCLC associated with low neuroendocrine features, more active anti-tumor immunity, and prolonged survival.
{"title":"Single-cell and spatial proteo-transcriptomic profiling reveals immune infiltration heterogeneity associated with neuroendocrine features in small cell lung cancer.","authors":"Ying Jin, Yuefeng Wu, Alexandre Reuben, Liang Zhu, Carl M Gay, Qingzhe Wu, Xintong Zhou, Haomin Mo, Qi Zheng, Junyu Ren, Zhaoyuan Fang, Teng Peng, Nan Wang, Liang Ma, Yun Fan, Hai Song, Jianjun Zhang, Ming Chen","doi":"10.1038/s41421-024-00703-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41421-024-00703-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive pulmonary neuroendocrine malignancy featured by cold tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), limited benefit from immunotherapy, and poor survival. The spatial heterogeneity of TIME significantly associated with anti-tumor immunity has not been systemically studied in SCLC. We performed ultra-high-plex Digital Spatial Profiling on 132 tissue microarray cores from 44 treatment-naive limited-stage SCLC tumors. Incorporating single-cell RNA-sequencing data from a local cohort and published SCLC data, we established a spatial proteo-transcriptomic landscape covering over 18,000 genes and 60 key immuno-oncology proteins that participate in signaling pathways affecting tumorigenesis, immune regulation, and cancer metabolism across 3 pathologically defined spatial compartments (pan-CK-positive tumor nest; CD45/CD3-positive tumor stroma; para-tumor). Our study depicted the spatial transcriptomic and proteomic TIME architecture of SCLC, indicating clear intra-tumor heterogeneity dictated via canonical neuroendocrine subtyping markers; revealed the enrichment of innate immune cells and functionally impaired B cells in tumor nest and suggested potentially important immunoregulatory roles of monocytes/macrophages. We identified RE1 silencing factor (REST) as a potential biomarker for SCLC associated with low neuroendocrine features, more active anti-tumor immunity, and prolonged survival.</p>","PeriodicalId":9674,"journal":{"name":"Cell Discovery","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11375181/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142131908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}