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    The anti–CTL-associated antigen 4 (anti–CTLA-4) antibody ipilimumab is the first agent to show improved survival in a randomized phase III trial that enrolled patients with metastatic melanoma. Studies are ongoing to identify mechanisms that elicit clinical benefit in the setting of anti–CTLA-4 therapy. We previously reported that treated patients had an increase in the frequency of T cells expressing the inducible costimulator (ICOS) molecule, a T-cell–specific molecule that belongs to the CD28/CTLA-4/B7 immunoglobulin superfamily. ICOS and its ligand (ICOSL) have been shown to play diverse roles in T-cell responses such as mediating autoimmunity as well as enhancing the development/activity of regulatory T cells. These seemingly opposing roles have made it difficult to determine whether the ICOS/ICOSL pathway is necessary for antitumor responses. To determine whether the ICOS/ICOSL pathway might play a causal role in the antitumor effects mediated by anti–CTLA-4, we conducted studies in ICOS-sufficient and ICOS-deficient mice bearing B16/BL6 melanoma. We show that ICOS+ T cells comprised a population of Th1 cytokine producing and tumor antigen-specific effector cells. Furthermore, in the absence of ICOS, antitumor T-cell responses elicited by anti–CTLA-4 are significantly diminished, thereby impairing tumor rejection. Our findings establish that the ICOS/ICOSL pathway is necessary for the optimal therapeutic effect of anti–CTLA-4, thus implicating this pathway as a target for future combinatorial strategies to improve the efficacy of anti–CTLA-4 therapy. Cancer Res; 71(16); 5445–54. ©2011 AACR.
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    Programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) has been described as a tumor suppressor, with high expression correlating with better outcomes in a number of cancer types. Yet a substantial number of cancer patients with high PDCD4 in tumors have poor survival, suggesting that oncogenic pathways may inhibit or change PDCD4 function. Here, we explore the significance of PDCD4 in breast cancer and identify protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) as a cofactor that radically alters PDCD4 function. Specifically, we find that coexpression of PDCD4 and PRMT5 in an orthotopic model of breast cancer causes accelerated tumor growth and that this growth phenotype is dependent on both the catalytic activity of PRMT5 and a site of methylation within the N-terminal region of PDCD4. In agreement with the xenograft model, elevated PDCD4 expression was found to correlate with worse outcome within the cohort of breast cancer patients whose tumors contain higher levels of PRMT5. These results reveal a new cofactor for PDCD4 that alters its tumor suppressor functions and point to the utility of PDCD4/PRMT5 status as both a prognostic biomarker and a potential target for chemotherapy. Cancer Res; 71(16); 5579–87. ©2011 AACR.
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    The transcription factor B-Myb plays a critical role in regulating gene expression and is implicated in controlling carcinogenesis and cellular senescence. Transcription of the B-Myb gene is regulated by retinoblastoma proteins acting directly on the B-Myb promoter. Recently, we found that microRNAs also control the abundance of B-Myb mRNA during senescence, adding another level of complexity to B-Myb regulation. This review focuses on the importance of B-Myb in cancer and senescence, with an emphasis on the regulation of B-Myb expression and activity. Cancer Res; 71(16); 5370–3. ©2011 AACR.
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    Polycomb group proteins (PcG) function as transcriptional repressors of gene expression. The important role of PcG in mediating repression of the INK4b-ARF-INK4a locus, by directly binding to the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) transcript antisense noncoding RNA in the INK4 locus (ANRIL), was recently shown. INK4b-ARF-INK4a encodes 3 tumor-suppressor proteins, p15INK4b, p14ARF, and p16INK4a, and its transcription is a key requirement for replicative or oncogene-induced senescence and constitutes an important barrier for tumor growth. ANRIL gene is transcribed in the antisense orientation of the INK4b-ARF-INK4a gene cluster, and different single-nucleotide polymorphisms are associated with increased susceptibility to several diseases. Although lncRNA-mediated regulation of INK4b-ARF-INK4a gene is not restricted to ANRIL, both polycomb repressive complex-1 (PRC1) and -2 (PRC2) interact with ANRIL to form heterochromatin surrounding the INK4b-ARF-INK4a locus, leading to its repression. This mechanism would provide an increased advantage for bypassing senescence, sustaining the requirements for the proliferation of stem and/or progenitor cell populations or inappropriately leading to oncogenesis through the aberrant saturation of the INK4b-ARF-INK4a locus by PcG complexes. In this review, we summarize recent findings on the underlying epigenetic mechanisms that link PcG function with ANRIL, which impose gene silencing to control cellular homeostasis as well as cancer development. Cancer Res; 71(16); 5365–9. ©2011 AACR.
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    Cytotoxic activity of immunotoxin SS1P is modulated by TACE-dependent mesothelin shedding.

    Cancer Res. 2011 Jul 20;

    Authors: Zhang Y, Chertov O, Zhang J, Hassan R, Pastan I

    Mesothelin is a cell-surface tumor-associated antigen expressed in several human cancers. The limited expression of mesothelin on normal tissues and its high expression in many cancers make it an attractive candidate for targeted therapies utilizing monoclonal antibodies, immunoconjugates and immunotoxins. Mesothelin is actively shed from the cell surface and is present in the serum of patients with malignant mesothelioma, which could negatively affect the response to these therapies. We have found that mesothelin sheddase activity is mediated by a tumor necrosis factor-? converting enzyme (TACE), a member of the MMP/ADAM family. We showed that EGF and TIMP-3 act through TACE as endogenous regulators of mesothelin shedding. We also found that reducing shedding significantly improved the in vitro cytotoxicity of immunotoxin SS1P, which targets mesothelin and is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of patients with mesothelioma and lung cancer. Our findings provide a mechanistic understanding of mesothelin shedding and could help improve mesothelin-based targeted therapies.

    PMID: 21775520 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

    www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov


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