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  2. Inhibition of xCT suppresses the efficacy of anti-PD-1/L1 melanoma treatment through exosomal PD-L1-induced macrophage M2 polarization

Inhibition of xCT suppresses the efficacy of anti-PD-1/L1 melanoma treatment through exosomal PD-L1-induced macrophage M2 polarization

  • Mol Ther. 2021 Jul 7;29(7):2321-2334. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2021.03.013.
Nian Liu 1 JiangLin Zhang 1 Mingzhu Yin 1 Hong Liu 1 Xu Zhang 1 Jiaoduan Li 1 Bei Yan 1 Yeye Guo 1 Jianda Zhou 2 Juan Tao 3 Shuo Hu 4 Xiang Chen 5 Cong Peng 6
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Dermatology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China; Hunan Key Laboratory of Skin Cancer and Psoriasis, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China; Human Engineering Research Center of Skin Health and Disease, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China; National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China.
  • 2 Department of Plastic Surgery of Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410000, China.
  • 3 Department of Dermatology, Affiliated Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, China.
  • 4 Department of Nuclear Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China.
  • 5 Department of Dermatology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China; Hunan Key Laboratory of Skin Cancer and Psoriasis, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China; Human Engineering Research Center of Skin Health and Disease, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China; National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China. Electronic address: chenxiangck@126.com.
  • 6 Department of Dermatology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China; Hunan Key Laboratory of Skin Cancer and Psoriasis, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China; Human Engineering Research Center of Skin Health and Disease, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China; National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Changsha, Hunan 410000, China. Electronic address: pengcongxy@csu.edu.cn.
Abstract

Tumor cells increase glutamate release through the cystine/glutamate transporter cystine-glutamate exchange (xCT) to balance oxidative homeostasis in tumor cells and promote tumor progression. Although clinical studies have shown the potential of targeting programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) signaling in melanoma, response rates are low. However, it remains unclear how glutamate metabolism affects anti-PD-1/PD-L1 treatment efficacy in melanoma. Here, we demonstrated that although inhibition of xCT either by pharmacological inhibitor (sulfasalazine [SAS]), approved by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for inflammatory diseases, or genetic knockdown induced Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)-related death in melanoma cells, inhibition of xCT significantly reduced the efficacy of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade through upregulating PD-L1 expression via the transcription factors IRF4/EGR1, as a consequence, exosomes carrying relatively large amounts of PD-L1 secreted from melanoma cells resulted in M2 macrophage polarization and reduced the efficacy of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy in melanoma. Taken together, our results reveal that inhibition of xCT by SAS is a promising therapeutic strategy for melanoma; on the other hand, SAS treatment blunted the efficacy of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 via exosomal PD-L1-induced macrophage M2 polarization and eventually induced anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy resistance.

Keywords

PD-1/PD-L1; exosome; macrophages; melanoma; xCT.

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