1. Academic Validation
  2. A membrane-associated MHC-I inhibitory axis for cancer immune evasion

A membrane-associated MHC-I inhibitory axis for cancer immune evasion

  • Cell. 2023 Aug 8;S0092-8674(23)00783-3. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.07.016.
Xufeng Chen 1 Qiao Lu 1 Hua Zhou 2 Jia Liu 1 Bettina Nadorp 1 Audrey Lasry 1 Zhengxi Sun 1 Baoling Lai 3 Gergely Rona 4 Jiangyan Zhang 1 Michael Cammer 5 Kun Wang 1 Wafa Al-Santli 1 Zoe Ciantra 6 Qianjin Guo 7 Jia You 1 Debrup Sengupta 8 Ahmad Boukhris 1 Hongbing Zhang 9 Cheng Liu 9 Peter Cresswell 8 Patricia L M Dahia 7 Michele Pagano 4 Iannis Aifantis 10 Jun Wang 11
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Pathology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA; The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA.
  • 2 Applied Bioinformatics Laboratories, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
  • 3 Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
  • 4 The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
  • 5 Microscopy Core, Division of Advanced Research Technologies, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
  • 6 Department of Pathology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
  • 7 Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Mays Cancer Center, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.
  • 8 Department of Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519, USA.
  • 9 Eureka Therapeutics Inc., Emeryville, CA 94608, USA.
  • 10 Department of Pathology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA; The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA. Electronic address: ioannis.aifantis@nyulangone.org.
  • 11 Department of Pathology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA; The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA. Electronic address: jun.wang@nyulangone.org.
Abstract

Immune-checkpoint blockade has revolutionized Cancer treatment, but some cancers, such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML), do not respond or develop resistance. A potential mode of resistance is immune evasion of T cell immunity involving aberrant major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) antigen presentation (AP). To map such mechanisms of resistance, we identified key MHC-I regulators using specific peptide-MHC-I-guided CRISPR-Cas9 screens in AML. The top-ranked negative regulators were surface protein sushi domain containing 6 (SUSD6), transmembrane protein 127 (TMEM127), and the E3 ubiquitin Ligase WWP2. SUSD6 is abundantly expressed in AML and multiple solid cancers, and its ablation enhanced MHC-I AP and reduced tumor growth in a CD8+ T cell-dependent manner. Mechanistically, SUSD6 forms a trimolecular complex with TMEM127 and MHC-I, which recruits WWP2 for MHC-I ubiquitination and lysosomal degradation. Together with the SUSD6/TMEM127/WWP2 gene signature, which negatively correlates with Cancer survival, our findings define a membrane-associated MHC-I inhibitory axis as a potential therapeutic target for both leukemia and solid cancers.

Keywords

MHC-I; SUSD6; T cell; TMEM127; WWP2; antigen presentation; cancer; immune evasion; lysosomal degradation; ubiquitination.

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