1. Academic Validation
  2. Pharmacological boosting of cGAS activation sensitizes chemotherapy by enhancing antitumor immunity

Pharmacological boosting of cGAS activation sensitizes chemotherapy by enhancing antitumor immunity

  • Cell Rep. 2023 Mar 20;42(3):112275. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112275.
Haipeng Liu 1 Hang Su 2 Fei Wang 3 Yifang Dang 4 Yijiu Ren 2 Shenyi Yin 5 Huinan Lu 6 Hang Zhang 7 Jun Wu 8 Zhu Xu 9 Mengge Zheng 10 Jiani Gao 2 Yajuan Cao 10 Junfang Xu 10 Li Chen 10 Xiangyang Wu 11 Mingtong Ma 3 Long Xu 2 Fang Wang 2 Jianxia Chen 11 Chunxia Su 12 Chunyan Wu 13 Huikang Xie 13 Jijie Gu 14 Jianzhong Jeff Xi 5 Baoxue Ge 15 Yiyan Fei 16 Chang Chen 17
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Clinical and Translational Research Center, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China; Central Laboratory, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Tuberculosis, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai HUASHEN Institute of Microbes and Infections, Shanghai 200052, China. Electronic address: haipengliu@tongji.edu.cn.
  • 2 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China.
  • 3 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Tuberculosis, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China.
  • 4 Clinical and Translational Research Center, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China; Central Laboratory, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai HUASHEN Institute of Microbes and Infections, Shanghai 200052, China.
  • 5 College of Future Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
  • 6 GeneX Health Co. Ltd., Beijing 100195, China.
  • 7 Department of Optical Science and Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Ultra-Precision Optical Manufacturing, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (Ministry of Education), Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
  • 8 Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
  • 9 Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China.
  • 10 Clinical and Translational Research Center, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China; Central Laboratory, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China.
  • 11 Clinical and Translational Research Center, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Tuberculosis, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China.
  • 12 Department of Oncology, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China.
  • 13 Department of Pathology, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China.
  • 14 WuXi Biologics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Shanghai City 201401, China.
  • 15 Clinical and Translational Research Center, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Tuberculosis, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China. Electronic address: baoxue_ge@tongji.edu.cn.
  • 16 Department of Optical Science and Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Ultra-Precision Optical Manufacturing, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (Ministry of Education), Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. Electronic address: fyy@fudan.edu.cn.
  • 17 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200433, China. Electronic address: changchenc@tongji.edu.cn.
Abstract

Enhancing chemosensitivity is one of the largest unmet medical needs in Cancer therapy. Cyclic GMP-AMP Synthase (cGAS) connects genome instability caused by platinum-based chemotherapeutics to type I interferon (IFN) response. Here, by using a high-throughput small-molecule microarray-based screening of cGAS interacting compounds, we identify brivanib, known as a dual inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor and Fibroblast Growth Factor receptor, as a cGAS modulator. Brivanib markedly enhances cGAS-mediated type I IFN response in tumor cells treated with platinum. Mechanistically, brivanib directly targets cGAS and enhances its DNA binding affinity. Importantly, brivanib synergizes with cisplatin in tumor control by boosting CD8+ T cell response in a tumor-intrinsic cGAS-dependent manner, which is further validated by a patient-derived tumor-like cell clusters model. Taken together, our findings identify cGAS as an unprecedented target of brivanib and provide a rationale for the combination of brivanib with platinum-based chemotherapeutics in Cancer treatment.

Keywords

CP: Cancer; brivanib; cGAS; chemosensitization; cyclic GMP-AMP synthase; platinum; type I IFN response.

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