BackgroundDespite its potential utility in delivering direct tumor killing and in situ whole-cell tumor vaccination, tumor cryoablation produces highly variable and unpredictable clinical response, limiting its clinical utility. The mechanism(s) driving cryoablation-induced local antitumor immunity and the associated abscopal effect is not well understood.MethodsThe aim of this study was to identify and explore a mechanism of action by which cryoablation enhances the therapeutic efficacy in metastatic tumor models. We used the subcutaneous mouse model of the rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) cell lines RMS 76-9STINGwtor RMS 76-9STING-/-, along with other murine tumor models, in C57BL/6 or STING-/-(TMEM173-/-) mice to evaluate local tumor changes, lung metastasis, abscopal effect on distant tumors, and immune cell dynamics in the tumor microenvironment (TME).ResultsThe results show that cryoablation efficacy is dependent on both adaptive immunity and the STING signaling pathway. Contrary to current literature dictating an essential role of host-derived STING activation as a driver of antitumor immunity in vivo, we show that local tumor control, lung metastasis, and the abscopal effect on distant tumor are all critically dependent on a functioning tumor cell-intrinsic STING signaling pathway, which induces inflammatory chemokine and cytokine responses in the cryoablated TME. This reliance extends beyond cryoablation to include intratumoral STING agonist therapy. Additionally, surveys of gene expression databases and tissue microarrays of clinical tumor samples revealed a wide spectrum of expressions among STING-related signaling components.ConclusionsTumor cell-intrinsic STING pathway is a critical component underlying the effectiveness of cryoablation and suggests that expression of STING-related signaling components may serve as a potential therapy response biomarker. Our data also highlight an urgent need to further characterize tumor cell-intrinsic STING pathways and the associated downstream inflammatory response evoked by cryoablation and other STING-dependent therapy approaches.
Even with current improvement in cancer therapy, tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment and metastatic tumors are important factors which have shown to be a challenge for cancer treatment. Thus, targeting the tumor microenvironment (TME) locally are required to modify the activation of innate immunity, which can provoke subsequent global adaptive anti-tumor immunity. Tumor cryo-ablation, a medical procedure that utilizes ultra-cold temperatures to destroy in situ local tumor tissues, has the capability to induce the release of immune danger signals that activate antigen-presenting cells to initiate the anti-tumor immunity. To understand the mechanism of immune activation by cryo-ablation, we performed comprehensive analyses on the effects of tumor cryo-ablation on mononuclear phagocytic lineage cells and the antitumor immunity. Here, we show that cryo-ablation of syngeneic Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) tumor, an aggressive sarcoma affecting children and young adults, was able to induce both the regression of tumor and the upregulation of the critical immune cytokines and chemokines profile. Moreover, cryo-ablation of RMS tumor initiates cGAS-STING signaling activation and type I interferon production in dendritic cells, which are consequential in pro-inflammatory TME. We also report that antitumor effects of cryo-ablation was more inhibitive, but not completely abrogated, in STING-deficient mice comparing with wild-type mice, demonstrating that both host-derived and tumor-intrinsic cGAS-STING signaling plays an important role in antitumor effects of tumor cryo-ablation. Ongoing experiments will address the efficacy of RMS tumor cryo-ablation on systemic anti-tumor immune activation leading to an abscopal effect on tumor regression at metastatic tumor. Taken together, our results demonstrate that tumor cryo-ablation affects antitumor immunity and cGAS-STING signaling in RMS tumor, and this approach may help guide future immunotherapy to improve cancer treatment outcomes. Citation Format: Mohammad Abdulaziz Alshebremi, Jay T. Myers, Daniel T. Kingsley, Alex Y. Huang. Effects of tumor cryo-ablation on cGAS-STING pathway and antitumor immunity in syngeneic murine rhabdomyosarcoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 971.
Tumor cryoablation, a medical procedure that utilizes ultra-cold temperatures to destroy in situ local tumor tissues, has been established for cure of many tumor types and for stimulation of the immune system. The mechanism of immune response to tumor cryoabltion are not well defined. To understand the molecular pathway of immune activation by cryoablation, we performed comprehensive analyses on the impact of tumor cryoablation on mononuclear phagocytic lineage cells and the antitumor immunity. Here, we show that cryoablation of a murine Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) tumor, an aggressive sarcoma affecting children and young adults, was able to induce the regression of tumor and the upregulation of the critical immune cytokines/chemokines profile and maturation markers of CD11c+ DCs. Moreover, cryoablation of RMS tumor initiates cGAS-STING signaling activation and type I interferon production in CD11c+ DCs, which are consequential in pro-inflammatory tumor microenvironment (TME). We also report that antitumor effects of cryoablation were more inhibitive, but not completely abrogated, in STING-deficient mice comparing with wild-type mice, indicating that both host-derived and tumor-intrinsic cGAS-STING signaling plays an important role in antitumor effects of tumor cryoablation. Taken together, our results demonstrate that tumor cryoablation induces antitumor immunity via cGAS-STING signaling in syngeneic Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) tumor, and this approach may help guide future immunotherapy to improve cancer treatment outcomes.
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