Endocrine Therapy Synergizes with SMAC Mimetics to Potentiate Antigen Presentation and Tumor Regression in Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer.
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Abstract | UNLABELLED: Immunotherapies have yet to demonstrate significant efficacy in the treatment of hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer. Given that endocrine therapy (ET) is the primary approach for treating HR+ breast cancer, we investigated the effects of ET on the tumor immune microenvironment (TME) in HR+ breast cancer. Spatial proteomics of primary HR+ breast cancer samples obtained at baseline and after ET from patients enrolled in a neoadjuvant clinical trial (NCT02764541) indicated that ET upregulated β2-microglobulin and influenced the TME in a manner that promotes enhanced immunogenicity. To gain a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms, the intrinsic effects of ET on cancer cells were explored, which revealed that ET plays a crucial role in facilitating the chromatin binding of RelA, a key component of the NF-κB complex. Consequently, heightened NF-κB signaling enhanced the response to interferon-gamma, leading to the upregulation of β2-microglobulin and other antigen presentation-related genes. Further, modulation of NF-κB signaling using a SMAC mimetic in conjunction with ET augmented T-cell migration and enhanced MHC-I-specific T-cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Remarkably, the combination of ET and SMAC mimetics, which also blocks prosurvival effects of NF-κB signaling through the degradation of inhibitors of apoptosis proteins, elicited tumor regression through cell autonomous mechanisms, providing additional support for their combined use in HR+ breast cancer.SIGNIFICANCE: Adding SMAC mimetics to endocrine therapy enhances tumor regression in a cell autonomous manner while increasing tumor immunogenicity, indicating that this combination could be an effective treatment for HR+ patients with breast cancer. |
Year of Publication | 2023
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Journal | Cancer research
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Volume | 83
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Issue | 19
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Pages | 3284-3304
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Date Published | 10/2023
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ISSN | 1538-7445
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DOI | 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-23-1711
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PubMed ID | 37450351
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