Metastatic progression of cancer is associated with poor outcome, and here we examine metabolic changes underlying this process. Although aerobic glycolysis is known to promote metastasis, we have now identified a different switch primarily affecting mitochondria. The switch involves overload of the electron transport chain (ETC) with preserved mitochondrial functions but increased mitochondrial superoxide production. It provides a metastatic advantage phenocopied by partial ETC inhibition, another situation associated with enhanced superoxide production. Both cases involved protein tyrosine kinases Src and Pyk2 as downstream effectors. Thus, two different events, ETC overload and partial ETC inhibition, promote superoxide-dependent tumor cell migration, invasion, clonogenicity, and metastasis. Consequently, specific scavenging of mitochondrial superoxide with mitoTEMPO blocked tumor cell migration and prevented spontaneous tumor metastasis in murine and human tumor models.
Metabolic adaptability is essential for tumor progression and includes cooperation between cancer cells with different metabolic phenotypes. Optimal glucose supply to glycolytic cancer cells occurs when oxidative cancer cells use lactate preferentially to glucose. However, using lactate instead of glucose mimics glucose deprivation, and glucose starvation induces autophagy. We report that lactate sustains autophagy in cancer. In cancer cells preferentially to normal cells, lactate dehydrogenase B (LDHB), catalyzing the conversion of lactate and NAD(+) to pyruvate, NADH and H(+), controls lysosomal acidification, vesicle maturation, and intracellular proteolysis. LDHB activity is necessary for basal autophagy and cancer cell proliferation not only in oxidative cancer cells but also in glycolytic cancer cells.
The binding interactions of PD-1 and PD-L1 have been studied by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) over the past few years, but these investigations resulted in controversy regarding the values of the dissociation constant (Kd) (Freeman et al., 2000). MST is a powerful new method for the quantitative analysis of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) with low sample consumption. The technique is based on the movement of molecules along microscopic temperature gradients, and it detects changes in their hydration shell, charge or size. One binding partner is fluorescently labeled, while the other binding partner remains label-free. We used a protocol that allows the determination of the binding affinity by MST without purification of the target protein from the cell lysate. The application of this MST method to PD-1-eGFP and PD-L1-eGFP expressed in CHO-K1 cells allowed us, for the first time, to determine the affinity of the complex formed between PD-1 and its ligand PD-L1 during tumor escape. The protocol has a variety of potential applications for studying the interactions of proteins with small molecules.
Immuno-therapy has become a leading strategy to fight cancer. Over the past few years, immuno-therapies using checkpoint inhibitor monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) have demonstrated improved survival compared with chemotherapy. We describe the identification and characterization of an innovative series of synthetic compounds (named PyrDLones, patented) endowed with nanomolar activity against PD-L1. PyrDLones properties were characterized using several biophysical techniques including microscale thermophoresis (MST) and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements. In vitro, selected small molecules demonstrate a high affinity for human PD-L1, potently disrupt the PD-L1:PD-1 interaction (<2nM), and inhibit Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase (SHP2) recruitment to PD-1 (<4nM). As a result, upon binding to and inhibiting PD-L1, these molecules reactivate proliferation of CTL-L2 cells expressing PD-1 (EC50=44nM). More than 150 molecules have been synthesized and a dozen of highly potent “PD-L1 silencing compounds” have been identified, based on in vitro measurements. Structure-activity relationships have been defined and an in silico drug-target model supporting the mechanism of action has been built. Experiments are on-going to delineate further the molecular mechanism of action of the PyrDLones (drug-induced PD-L1 dimer formation), the cellular consequences of the PD-L1 silencing (reactivation of cytotoxic T cells in the tumor microenvironment) and to characterize their activity in vivo. In summary, we have discovered a novel series of potent, small molecule PD-L1 antagonists, amenable to the design of orally active drugs for immuno-therapy of cancers. Citation Format: Romain Magnez, Natascha Leleu-Chavain, Morgane Tardy, Hassiba El Bouazzati, Fréderique Klupsch, Christian Bailly, Régis Millet, Bruno Quesnel, Xavier Thuru. Novel small-molecule antagonists of the PD1/PD-L1 axis [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 5340.
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