Anika Patel1, Kate Alison Lozada1, Moom Roosan1, Basir Syed1, Jennifer Totonchy1, Amardeep Awasthi2, Richard B. Silverman2, Sun Yang1
1Chapman University, Irvine, CA,2Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
摘要 Abstract
Interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) in the melanoma tumor microenvironment plays opposing roles, orchestrating both pro-tumorigenic activity and anticancer immune responses. Our previous studies demonstrated the role of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) in IFN-gamma-stimulated melanoma progression. However, the underlying mechanism has not been well defined. Bioinformatic analysis of patient and cellular proteomic data was conducted to identify proteins of interest associated with IFN-gamma treatment in melanoma. Our omics analysis revealed that the induction of COX-2 was significantly predictive of IFN-gamma treatment in melanoma cells. In the presence of IFN-gamma, PGE 2 further enhanced PD-L1 expression and amplified the induction of nNOS, which increased intracellular NO levels. Cotreatment with celecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, effectively diminished these changes induced by PGE 2 . nNOS blockade using a selective small molecule inhibitor (HH044) efficiently inhibited IFN-gamma-Induced PGE 2 production and COX-2 expression in melanoma cells. STAT3 inhibitor napabucasin also inhibited COX-2 expression both in the presence and absence of IFN-gamma. In vivo , HH044 treatment significantly reduced tumor PGE 2 levels in a human melanoma xenograft mouse model (A375/Nu/Nu). Combination treatment with HH044 and celecoxib yielded the greatest tumor suppression in the syngeneic murine melanoma model (Cloudman S91/DBA/2), reducing tumor volume to 19% of control, compared to 38% and 52% with HH044 or celecoxib alone, respectively. Furthermore, transcriptomic analysis revealed significant changes in genes involved in matrix remodeling and metastasis after HH044 treatment. Ex vivo co-culturing human PBMCs with melanoma cells inhibited T cell activation, decreasing IL-2-secreting T cells in the presence and absence of IFN-gamma. PBMCs from a significant portion of donors (64%) were reactivated by HH044 pretreatment, displaying a significant increase in IL-2+ T cells after coincubation with melanoma cells.Our study reveals a positive feedback loop linking nNOS-mediated NO signaling to the COX-2/PGE 2 signaling axis in melanoma, thereby further enhancing the pro-tumorigenic activity of IFN-gamma. Disrupting crosstalk between nNOS/NO and COX-2 with selective inhibitors effectively suppressed melanoma tumor growth, possibly by modulating the tumor immune microenvironment.
利益披露 Disclosure
A. Patel, None..
K. A. Lozada, None..
M. Roosan, None..
B. Syed, None..
J. Totonchy, None..
A. Awasthi, None..
R. B. Silverman, None.
S. Yang,
Merck, Inc ).
Amgen ).