Abstract
Adoptive-cell-therapy (ACT) is important therapeutic approach against cancer. We previously showed that miR-7 deficiency endowed CD4+T cells with hyperactivation status in liver injury. However, whether CD4+T cells with miR-7 deficiency could elicit antitumor effect in ACT is still unclear. Naïve CD4+CD62Lhi T cells were purified from CD45.2 WT or CD45.2 miR-7def mice and transferred into syngeneic CD45.1WT mice bearing with lung tumor cells. The infiltration and function of T cells were measured by FCM and immunofluorescence assay. And naïve CD4+CD62Lhi T cells were purified from CD45.2 WT or CD45.2 miR-7def mice, then the cells were activated with CD3 antibody plus CD28 antibody in vitro for 24 h. Then, the cultured supernatant of LLC tumor cells or cytokines IFN-γ and IL-12 was added to establish Th1 polarization. Under these conditions, Th1 polarization-related molecules in these cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Our data demonstrated a significant reduction in the growth and metastasis of lung cancer cells in the miR-7def CD4+T cell-transferred group, accompanied by a significant enhancement in the infiltration, proliferation, activation, and Th1 polarization of CD4+ T cells. Moreover, we observed the proliferation; activation of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells was significantly increased in the local tumor of the CD45.2 miR-7def CD4+ T cell-transferred group, compared to the CD45.2 WT CD4+ T cell-transferred group. It is noteworthy that MAPK4, a target molecule of miR-7, was upregulated in CD4+ T cells from lung tumor tissues, resulting in an altered transduction of phosphorylation of NF-κB as well as AKT and ERK in vivo and in vitro. miR-7 deficiency promoted Th1-polarization of CD4+ T cells and elicited effective antitumor immune responses in ACT.
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The authors declare that there are no primary datasets and computer codes associated with this study. All data and materials are available to the researchers once published.
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Funding
This manuscript was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32160178, 81960509, 82272812, 82360018), the Program for High Level Innovative Talents in Guizhou Province (QKH-RC-2016-4031), the Program for Excellent Young Talents of Zunyi Medical University (15ZY-001), the Project of Guizhou Provincial Department of Science and Technology (QKHZC-2020-4Y156, QKHJC-ZK-2022-623), the Guizhou Province Graduate Research Fund (YJSCXJH-2020-093), the Program for Science and Technology Joint Fund Project in Zunyi Science and Technology Bureau and Zunyi Medical University (ZSKH-HZ-2022-414, ZYSKRPT-2020-6), Guizhou Province Science and Technology Planning Project (QKPTRC-2019-052, QKPTRC-2020-033), and Science and technology Fund project of Guizhou Provincial Health Commission (gzwkj2022-271). Future “Science and Technology Elite” talent training plan of Zunyi Medical University (ZYSE-2022-04).
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J.Z. and L.X. designed the study. X.C., M.G., Y.Y., J.Y., L.T., C.C., X.Z., and Y.Z. performed the experiments. J.Z., Y.W., C.C., M.Q., and L.T. analyzed the data. J.Z. and L.X. wrote the manuscript with contribution from all co-authors.
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Chang, X., Zhao, J., Zhou, Y. et al. MiR-7 deficiency promotes Th1 polarization of CD4+T cells and enhances the antitumor effect in adoptive cell therapy for lung cancer. Immunol Res 72, 134–146 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-023-09423-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-023-09423-y