Cited by 1,013Cancer Immunotherapy and BiomarkersUbiquitin and proteasome pathwaysT-cell and B-cell Immunology

Cyclin D–CDK4 kinase destabilizes PD-L1 via cullin 3–SPOP to control cancer immune surveillance

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Zhang, Jinfang, Bu, Xia, Wang, Haizhen, Zhu, Yasheng, Geng, Yan, Nihira, Naoe Taira, Tan, Yuyong, Ci, Yanpeng +10 more·2018·Nature

Abstract

Treatments that target immune checkpoints, such as the one mediated by programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and its ligand PD-L1, have been approved for treating human cancers with durable clinical benefit. However, many patients with cancer fail to respond to compounds that target the PD-1 and PD-L1 interaction, and the underlying mechanism(s) is not well understood. Recent studies revealed that response to PD-1-PD-L1 blockade might correlate with PD-L1 expression levels in tumour cells. Hence, it is important to understand the mechanistic pathways that control PD-L1 protein expression and stability, which can offer a molecular basis to improve the clinical response rate and efficacy of PD-1-PD-L1 blockade in patients with cancer. Here we show that PD-L1 protein abundance is regulated by cyclin D-CDK4 and the cullin 3-SPOP E3 ligase via proteasome-mediated degradation. Inhibition of CDK4 and CDK6 (hereafter CDK4/6) in vivo increases PD-L1 protein levels by impeding cyclin D-CDK4-mediated phosphorylation of speckle-type POZ protein (SPOP) and thereby promoting SPOP degradation by the anaphase-promoting complex activator FZR1. Loss-of-function mutations in SPOP compromise ubiquitination-mediated PD-L1 degradation, leading to increased PD-L1 levels and reduced numbers of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes in mouse tumours and in primary human prostate cancer specimens. Notably, combining CDK4/6 inhibitor treatment with anti-PD-1 immunotherapy enhances tumour regression and markedly improves overall survival rates in mouse tumour models. Our study uncovers a novel molecular mechanism for regulating PD-L1 protein stability by a cell cycle kinase and reveals the potential for using combination treatment with CDK4/6 inhibitors and PD-1-PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade to enhance therapeutic efficacy for human cancers.

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  • Several critical proteins including CMTM4, CMTM6, GSK3β, CSN5, CDK4, CDK6, and palmitoylated B3GNT3 have been shown to affect post-translational PD-L1 stability.

    “Moreover, several critical proteins including CMTM4, CMTM6, GSK3β, CSN5, CDK4, CDK6, and palmitoylated B3GNT3 have been shown to affect post-translational PD-L1 stability31–36.”

    From PRDM1/BLIMP1 induces cancer immune evasion by modulating the USP22-SPI1-PD-L1 axis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells (2022) · cites this paper as [36]

    The SUMMARY (page not provided) shows that CDK4 affects PD-L1 protein abundance and that CDK4/6 inhibitors increase its stability. It also reports that CDK6 depletion did not increase PD-L1; this paper therefore does not support listing CDK6 as an independently demonstrated regulator. The other listed proteins are not established by this paper’s findings. (LLM, conf=0.89)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The Cullin 3-SPOP E3-ligase complex can directly ubiquitinate PD-L1 in a cell-cycle dependent manner, leading to its degradation.

    “the Cullin 3-SPOP E3-ligase complex can directly ubiquitinate PD-L1 in a cell-cycle dependent manner, leading to its degradation [15].”
  • Perturbation of the CUL3-SPOP complex interferes with the ubiquitination of PD-L1, directly enhancing its stability and protein expression level.

    “First, as previously described [15], perturbation of the CUL3-SPOP complex interferes with the ubiquitination of PD-L1, directly enhancing its stability and protein expression level.”
  • Perturbation of MYC and CUL3 both increased PD-L1 protein levels, consistent with previous reports.

    “we verified that perturbation of BHLH transcription factor MYC [12] and the ubiquitin ligase CUL3 [15] both increased PD-L1 protein levels, consistent with previous reports.”
  • CDK4 phosphorylates SPOP, an adaptor for a cullin 3 E3 ubiquitin ligase that binds PD-L1.

    “CDK4 was shown to have kinase activity towards SPOP, a cullin 3 E3 ubiquitin ligase adaptor protein that can interact with PD-L1 (Zhang et al., 2018).”

    From CDK4/6 Inhibitors: The Mechanism of Action May Not Be as Simple as Once Thought (2018) · cites this paper as Zhang et al., 2018

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  1. [31]Gan W SPOP Promotes Ubiquitination and Degradation of the ERG Oncoprotein to Suppress Prostate Cancer Progression Molecular cell 59 917 930 2015 26344095 PMC4575912

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Authors
Zhang, J., Bu, X., Wang, H., Zhu, Y., Geng, Y., Nihira, N. T., Tan, Y., Ci, Y., Wu, F., Dai, X., Guo, J., Huang, Y.-H., Fan, C., Ren, S., Sun, Y., Freeman, G. J., Sicinski, P., & Wei, W.
Affiliations
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Second Military Medical University (CN)
Corresponding author
  • Freeman, Gordon J.
  • Wei, Wenyi
Venue
Nature
Published
2017-11-16
Volume
553
Issue
7686
Pages
91-95
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2769376007
Cited by
1,013
References
43
Citations by year
2026: 81 · 2025: 123 · 2024: 138 · 2023: 140 · 2022: 134 · 2021: 157 · 2020: 118 · 2019: 78 · 2018: 43
FWCI
28.82
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Cancer Institute (R01CA190509, R01CA229307, R01CA200573, K99CA212292, R01CA177910, P50CA101942, R01CA132740, R01CA202634, P01CA080111, R01CA200651, R01CA083688)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM094777, R01GM089763)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Ubiquitin and proteasome pathways
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
Keywords
PD-L1, anti-PD-1 therapy, CDK4/6 inhibitors, FZR1, proteasomal degradation, polyubiquitination, tumor immune evasion, immune checkpoint blockade, combination immunotherapy, tumor immune microenvironment
MeSH terms
Animals, Cell Cycle, Cell Line, Female, Humans, Immunologic Surveillance, Male, Neoplasms, Nuclear Proteins, Phosphorylation, Prostatic Neoplasms, Repressor Proteins, Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating, Tumor Escape, Cullin Proteins, Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex, 14-3-3 Proteins, Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4, Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 6, Mice, Protein Stability, Cyclin D, Proteolysis, B7-H1 Antigen, Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor, Cdh1 Proteins

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