ICOSLG-mediated regulatory T-cell expansion and IL-10 production promote progression of glioblastoma
NEURO-ONCOLOGY
Authors: Iwata, Ryoichi; Lee, Joo Hyoung; Hayashi, Mikio; Dianzani, Umberto; Ofune, Kohei; Maruyama, Masato; Oe, Souichi; Ito, Tomoki; Hashiba, Tetsuo; Yoshimura, Kunikazu; Nonaka, Masahiro; Nakano, Yosuke; Norian, Lyse; Nakano, Ichiro; Asai, Akio
Abstract
Background. Targeting immune checkpoint proteins has recently gained substantial attention due to the dramatic success of this strategy in clinical trials for some cancers. InducibleT-cell co-stimulator ligand (ICOSLG) is a member of the B7 family of immune regulatory ligands, expression of which in cancer is implicated in disease progression due to regulation of antitumor adaptive immunity. Although aberrant ICOSLG expression has been reported in glioma cells, the underlying mechanisms that promote glioblastoma (GBM) progression remain elusive. Methods. Here, we investigated a causal role for ICOSLG in GBM progression by analyzing ICOSLG expression in both human glioma tissues and patient-derived GBM sphere cells (GSCs). We further examined its immune modulatory effects and the underlying molecular mechanisms. Results. Bioinformatics analysis and GBM tissue microarray showed that upregulation of ICOSLG expression was associated with poor prognosis in patients with GBM. ICOSLG expression was upregulated preferentially in mesenchymal GSCs but not in proneural GSCs in a tumor necrosis factor-alpha/nuclear factor-kappaB-dependent manner. Furthermore, ICOSLG expression by mesenchymal GSCs promoted expansion of T cells that produced interleukin-10. Knockdown of the gene encoding ICOSLG markedly reduced GBM tumor growth in immune competent mice, with a concomitant downregulation of interleukin-10 levels in the tumor microenvironment. Conclusions. Inhibition of the ICOSLG-inducible co-stimulator axis in GBM may provide a promising immunotherapeutic approach for suppressing a subset of GBM with an elevated mesenchymal signature.
Comparative genetic analysis of inflammatory bowel disease and type 1 diabetes implicates multiple loci with opposite effects
HUMAN MOLECULAR GENETICS
Authors: Wang, Kai; Baldassano, Robert; Zhang, Haitao; Qu, Hui-Qi; Imielinski, Marcin; Kugathasan, Subra; Annese, Vito; Dubinsky, Marla; Rotter, Jerome I.; Russell, Richard K.; Bradfield, Jonathan P.; Sleiman, Patrick M. A.; Glessner, Joseph T.; Walters, Thomas; Hou, Cuiping; Kim, Cecilia; Frackelton, Edward C.; Garris, Maria; Doran, James; Romano, Claudio; Catassi, Carlo; Van Limbergen, Johan; Guthery, Stephen L.; Denson, Lee; Piccoli, David; Silverberg, Mark S.; Stanley, Charles A.; Monos, Dimitri; Wilson, David C.; Griffiths, Anne; Grant, Struan F. A.; Satsangi, Jack; Polychronakos, Constantin; Hakonarson, Hakon
Abstract
Inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), and type 1 diabetes (T1D) are autoimmune diseases that may share common susceptibility pathways. We examined known susceptibility loci for these diseases in a cohort of 1689 CD cases, 777 UC cases, 989 T1D cases and 6197 shared control subjects of European ancestry, who were genotyped by the Illumina HumanHap550 SNP arrays. We identified multiple previously unreported or unconfirmed disease associations, including known CD loci (ICOSLG and TNFSF15) and T1D loci (TNFAIP3) that confer UC risk, known UC loci (HERC2 and IL26) that confer T1D risk and known UC loci (IL10 and CCNY) that confer CD risk. Additionally, we show that T1D risk alleles residing at the PTPN22, IL27, IL18RAP and IL10 loci protect against CD. Furthermore, the strongest risk alleles for T1D within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) confer strong protection against CD and UC; however, given the multi-allelic nature of the MHC haplotypes, sequencing of the MHC locus will be required to interpret this observation. These results extend our current knowledge on genetic variants that predispose to autoimmunity, and suggest that many loci involved in autoimmunity may be under a balancing selection due to antagonistic pleiotropic effect. Our analysis implies that variants with opposite effects on different diseases may facilitate the maintenance of common susceptibility alleles in human populations, making autoimmune diseases especially amenable to genetic dissection by genome-wide association studies.