Cited by 285Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkersinterferon and immune responsesImmunotherapy and Immune Responses

DNA Sensing in Mismatch Repair-Deficient Tumor Cells Is Essential for Anti-tumor Immunity

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Lu, Changzheng, Guan, Junhong, Lu, Steve, Jin, Qihuang, Rousseau, Benoit, Lu, Tianshi, Stephens, Dennis, Zhang, Hongyi +18 more·2021·Cancer Cell

Abstract

Increased neoantigens in hypermutated cancers with DNA mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR) are proposed as the major contributor to the high objective response rate in anti-PD-1 therapy. However, the mechanism of drug resistance is not fully understood. Using tumor models defective in the MMR gene Mlh1 (dMLH1), we show that dMLH1 tumor cells accumulate cytosolic DNA and produce IFN-β in a cGAS-STING-dependent manner, which renders dMLH1 tumors slowly progressive and highly sensitive to checkpoint blockade. In neoantigen-fixed models, dMLH1 tumors potently induce T cell priming and lose resistance to checkpoint therapy independent of tumor mutational burden. Accordingly, loss of STING or cGAS in tumor cells decreases tumor infiltration of T cells and endows resistance to checkpoint blockade. Clinically, downregulation of cGAS/STING in human dMMR cancers correlates with poor prognosis. We conclude that DNA sensing within tumor cells is essential for dMMR-triggered anti-tumor immunity. This study provides new mechanisms and biomarkers for anti-dMMR-cancer immunotherapy.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.ccell.2020.11.006

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  • Recent evidence suggests that tumor cell-intrinsic STING is critical to the production of type I IFNs and promotion of CD8+ T cell activation via enhancing the function of APCs.

    “As recent evidence suggests that tumor cell-intrinsic STING is critical to the production of type I IFNs and promotion of CD8+ T cell activation via enhancing the function of APCs,33”

    From Functional tumor cell-intrinsic STING, not host STING, drives local and systemic antitumor immunity and therapy efficacy following cryoablation (2023) · cites this paper as [33]

    The Results sections on type I IFN activation and epitope-specific T cell activation report that STING-deficient dMLH1 tumor cells lose type I IFN signaling and are less able to support dendritic-cell-mediated CD8+ T cell priming. The evidence is specific to MLH1-deficient or dMMR tumor models; the claim does not retain that condition and could be read as applying to tumor cells generally. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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Authors
Lu, C., Guan, J., Lu, S., Jin, Q., Rousseau, B., Lu, T., Stephens, D., Zhang, H., Zhu, J., Yang, M., Ren, Z., Liang, Y., Liu, Z., Han, C., Liu, L., Cao, X., Zhang, A., Qiao, J., Batten, K., Chen, M., Castrillon, D. H., Wang, T., Li, B., Diaz, L. A., Li, G.-M., & Fu, Y.-X.
Affiliations
  • The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (US)
Corresponding author
  • Li, Guo-Min
  • Fu, Yang-Xin
Venue
Cancer Cell
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-01
Volume
39
Issue
1
Pages
96-108.e6
ISSN
1535-6108 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3112754342
Cited by
285
References
60
Citations by year
2026: 36 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 66 · 2022: 46 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 1
FWCI
13.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cancer Cell (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Entertainment Industry Foundation
  • Amaldi Research Center
  • Astellas Pharma US
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • Merck
  • University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (RP180725)
  • Novartis
  • Bayer Fund
  • Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (RR150072, RR160101)
  • Jounce Therapeutics
  • Gilead Sciences
  • Servier
  • American Association for Cancer Research
  • National Institutes of Health (1R01CA245318-01A1, 5P30CA142543)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › interferon and immune responses
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immunotherapy and Immune Responses
Keywords
mismatch repair deficiency, MLH1, cytosolic DNA sensing, cGAS-STING pathway, interferon-beta, neoantigens, anti-PD-1 therapy, immune checkpoint blockade, tumor immunogenicity, T cell priming, tumor mutational burden, drug resistance, prognostic factors, cancer immunotherapy
MeSH terms
MutL Protein Homolog 1, Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, STING Protein, Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate-Adenosine Monophosphate Synthase, Animals, Female, Humans, Membrane Proteins, Neoplasm Transplantation, Neoplasms, Nucleotidyltransferases, Prognosis, Signal Transduction, Down-Regulation, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Interferon-beta, Cell Line, Tumor, Mice, DNA Mismatch Repair

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