Background:Lung cancer is the most life-threatening cancer type worldwide. Treatment options include surgery, radio- and chemotherapy, as well as the use of immunomodulatory antibodies. Interleukin (IL)-10 is an immunosuppressive cytokine involved in tumour immune escape.Methods:Immunohistochemistry (IHC) on human lung surgery tissue as well as human tumour cell line cultures, FACS analysis, real-time PCR and experimental lung cancer.Results:Here we discovered a positive correlation between IL-10 and IL-10 receptor (IL-10R) expression in the lung with tumour diameter in patients with lung cancer (non-small cell lung cancer), the most life-threatening cancer type worldwide. IL-10 and IL-10R were found induced in cells surrounding the lung tumour cells, and IL-10R was mainly expressed on the surface of Foxp-3+ T-regulatory lymphocytes infiltrating the tumour of these patients where its expression inversely correlated with programmed cell death 1. These findings were confirmed in translational studies. In a human lung adenocarcinoma cell line, IL-10R was found induced under metabolic restrictions present during tumour growth, whereby IL-10 inhibited PDL1 and tumour cell apoptosis.Conclusions:These new findings suggest that IL-10 counteracts IFN-γ effects on PD1/PDL1 pathway, resulting in possible resistance of the tumour to anti-PD1/PDL1 immunotherapy.

The lipid hydrolase enzyme acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) is required for the conversion of the lipid cell membrane component sphingomyelin into ceramide. In cancer cells, ASM-mediated ceramide production is important for apoptosis, cell proliferation, and immune modulation, highlighting ASM as a potential multimodal therapeutic target. In this study, we demonstrate elevated ASM activity in the lung tumor environment and blood serum of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). RNAi-mediated attenuation of in human NSCLC cells rendered them resistant to serum starvation-induced apoptosis. In a murine model of lung adenocarcinoma, ASM deficiency reduced tumor development in a manner associated with significant enhancement of Th1-mediated and cytotoxic T-cell-mediated antitumor immunity. Our findings indicate that targeting ASM in NSCLC can act by tumor cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic mechanisms to suppress tumor cell growth, most notably by enabling an effective antitumor immune response by the host..

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) associated Family with sequence similarity 13, member A (FAM13A) with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) occurrence. Here, we found increased numbers of FAM13A protein expressing cells in the tumoral region of lung tissues from a cohort of patients with NSCLC. Moreover, FAM13A inversely correlated with CTLA4 but directly correlated with HIF1α levels in the control region of these patients. Consistently, FAM13A RhoGAP was found to be associated with T cell effector molecules like HIF1α and Tbet and was downregulated in immunosuppressive CD4CD25Foxp3CTLA4 T cells. TGFβ, a tumor suppressor factor, as well as siRNA to FAM13A, suppressed both isoforms of FAM13A and inhibited tumor cell proliferation. RNA-Seq analysis confirmed this finding. Moreover, siRNA to FAM13A induced TGFβ levels. Finally, in experimental tumor cell migration, FAM13A was induced and TGFβ accelerated this process by inducing cell migration, HIF1α, and the FAM13A RhoGAP isoform. Furthermore, siRNA to FAM13A inhibited tumor cell proliferation and induced cell migration without affecting HIF1α. In conclusion, FAM13A is involved in tumor cell proliferation and downstream of TGFβ and HIF1α, FAM13A RhoGAP is associated with Th1 gene expression and lung tumor cell migration. These findings identify FAM13A as key regulator of NSCLC growth and progression.

No abstract

Neoplasms of the lungs are the leading cause of cancer incidence and mortality worldwide. Although immunotherapy has increased the overall survival of patients with lung cancer, there is the need to improve this treatment. At this regard, blood lipid levels are thought to be linked to cancer risk and thus a preventive intervention through regulation of the nutrition of patients with lung cancer is gaining much attention. In this study, we therefore asked about the contribution of serum lipids and cholesterol cellular metabolism in lung cancer development and progression. We measured different serum lipids and analyzed cholesterol synthesis enzymes 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGCR) and acetyl-coenzyme A cholesterol acetyltransferase 1 (ACAT1) as well as the cholesterol cellular export protein ATP-binding cassette (ABC) A-1 mRNA by quantitative PCR (qPCR) in the control and tumoral regions of post-surgery lung tissues to analyze the accumulation of cholesterol in cancer cells in a cohort of patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). We found that triglycerides in serum directly correlated with the body mass index (BMI) in patients with LUAD. By contrast, we found that high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol inversely correlated with the BMI, C-reactive protein (CRP) and overall survival and total cholesterol inversely correlated with the tumor diameter, serum CRP and overall survival in these LUAD patients. Functionally, the role of cholesterol is indispensable for the growth and development of normal animal cells where it is tightly regulated. Excess of cellular cholesterol regulated by HMGCR is converted to cholesteryl esters by the enzyme ACAT1 and exported extracellularly by the cholesterol transporter ABCA1. Here we found HMGCR and ACAT1 upregulated and ABCA1 downregulated in the lung’s tumoral region of our LUAD cohort, indicating cholesterol dysregulated cellular export in lung tumor cells.

Asthma is a chronic airway disease whose exacerbations are often triggered by rhinovirus infection. TGF-β1 induces rhinovirus replication in infected cells. Moreover, TGF-β1 is a pleiotropic mediator that is produced by many immune cells in the latent, inactive form bound to the latency-associated peptide (LAP) and to the transmembrane protein glycoprotein A repetitions predominant (GARP). In this study we wanted to investigate the effect of rhinovirus infection on the TGF-β secretion and the downstream signaling via TGF-βRI/RII in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from control and asthmatic patients after rhinovirus infection ex vivo. Here, we found a significant upregulation of TGF-βRII in untouched PBMCs of asthmatics as well as a suppression of TGF-β release in the rhinovirus-infected PBMC condition. Moreover, consistent with an effect of TGF-β on Tregs, PBMCs infected with RV induced Tregs, and TGF-βRII directly correlated with RV1b mRNA. Finally, we found via flow cytometry that NK cells expressed less GARP surface-bound TGF-β, while cytokine-producing NKbright cells were induced. In summary, we show that rhinovirus infection inhibits TGF-β release in PBMCs, which results in the activation of both Treg and NK cells.

<div>Abstract<p>The lipid hydrolase enzyme acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) is required for the conversion of the lipid cell membrane component sphingomyelin into ceramide. In cancer cells, ASM-mediated ceramide production is important for apoptosis, cell proliferation, and immune modulation, highlighting ASM as a potential multimodal therapeutic target. In this study, we demonstrate elevated ASM activity in the lung tumor environment and blood serum of patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). RNAi-mediated attenuation of <i>SMPD1</i> in human NSCLC cells rendered them resistant to serum starvation–induced apoptosis. In a murine model of lung adenocarcinoma, ASM deficiency reduced tumor development in a manner associated with significant enhancement of Th1-mediated and cytotoxic T-cell–mediated antitumor immunity. Our findings indicate that targeting ASM in NSCLC can act by tumor cell–intrinsic and –extrinsic mechanisms to suppress tumor cell growth, most notably by enabling an effective antitumor immune response by the host. <i>Cancer Res; 77(21); 5963–76. ©2017 AACR</i>.</p></div>

<p>Levels of different Ceramide and Sphingomyelin molecular species measured in the blood serum of patients with ADC and SCC as well as in healthy donors</p>