No abstract

Background Newborns suffer frequent infection and manifest impaired vaccine responses, motivating a search for neonatal vaccine adjuvants. Alum is a neonatal adjuvant, but may confer a Th2 bias. Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists are candidate adjuvants, but human neonatal cord blood monocytes (Mos) demonstrate impaired Th1-polarizing responses to many TLR agonists due to plasma adenosine acting via cAMP. TLR8 agonists, including imidazoquinolines (IMQs) such as the small synthetic 3M-002, induce adult-level TNF from neonatal Mos, but the scope and mechanisms of IMQ-induced activation of neonatal Mos and Mo-derived dendritic cells (MoDCs) have not been reported. Objectives To characterize IMQ-induced activation of neonatal Mos and MoDCs. Methods Neonatal cord and adult peripheral blood Mos and MoDCs were cultured in autologous plasma; Alum- and TLR agonist-induced cytokines and co-stimulatory molecules were measured. TLR8 and inflammasome function were assayed using siRNA and western blotting/caspase-1 inhibitory peptide, respectively. The ontogeny of TLR8 agonist–induced cytokine responses was defined in Rhesus macaque whole blood ex vivo. Results IMQs were more potent and effective than Alum at inducing TNF and IL-1β from Mos. 3M-002 induced robust TLR pathway transcriptome activation and Th1-polarizing cytokine production in neonatal and adult Mos and MoDCs, signaling via TLR8 in an adenosine/cAMP- refractory manner. Newborn MoDCs displayed impaired LPS/ATP-induced caspase-1-mediated IL-1β production, but robust 3M-002-induced caspase-1-mediated inflammasome activation independent of exogenous ATP. TLR8-IMQs induced robust TNF and IL-1β in whole blood of Rhesus macaques at birth and infancy. Conclusions IMQ TLR8 agonists engage adenosine-refractory TLR8 and inflammasome pathways to induce robust Mo and MoDC activation and represent promising neonatal adjuvants.

Obesity is a risk factor for breast cancer and also predicts poor clinical outcomes regardless of menopausal status. Contributing to the poor clinical outcomes is the suboptimal efficacy of standard therapies due to dose limiting toxicities and obesity related complications, highlighting the need to develop novel therapeutic approaches for treating obese patients. We recently found that obesity leads to an increase in tumor-infiltrating macrophages with activated NLRC4 inflammasome and increased interleukin (IL)-1β production. IL-1β, in turn, leads to increased angiogenesis and cancer progression. Using Next Generation RNA sequencing, we identified an NLRC4/IL-1β-dependent upregulation of angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4), a known angiogenic factor in cancer, in tumors from obese mice. ANGPTL4-deficiency by genetic knockout or treatment with a neutralizing antibody led to a significant reduction in obesity-induced angiogenesis and tumor growth. At a mechanistic level, ANGPTL4 expression is induced by IL-1β from primary adipocytes in a manner dependent on NF-κB- and MAP kinase-activation, which is further enhanced by hypoxia. This report shows that adipocyte-derived ANGPTL4 drives disease progression under obese conditions and is a potential therapeutic target for treating obese breast cancer patients.