<p>Characterization of innate and adaptive immune cell recruitment to CT26 STK11 KO tumors compared to CT26 WT. (A) Work flow for single cell RNA (scRNA) analysis of CD45+ cells isolated from CT26 WT and STK11 KO clones. Data analysis including cell quality control and filtering steps used to subset the raw scRNA-seq data into CD45+ cells and the two main immune cell populations subsequently analyzed as described in the Supplementary Appendix. (B) Number of CD45+ immune cells per sample used for downstream analysis. (C) Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) of CD45+ immune cells colored by major cell populations as determined by Louvain clustering: B cell, monocyte/macrophage/DC (Mono.Macro.DC), neutrophil, T cell/NK cell (T.NK), basophil, and pDC clusters are represented as indicated. (D) UMAP plots showing the expression of key genes used in the identification of immune cell clusters. Ptprc = CD45, immune cell marker; Cd3e = epsilon subunit of CD3 complex, T cell marker; Ncr1 = NKp46, NK cell marker; Csf1r = CSF1 receptor, monocyte/macrophage marker; Csf3r = CSF3 (G-CSF) receptor, neutrophil/gMDSC marker; Siglech, Siglec H, plasmacytoid DC marker; CD19, B cell marker; Mcpt8 = mast cell protease 8, basophil/mast cell marker. (E) Percentage of each cell cluster among CD45+ immune population per sample. (F) Comparison between median percentage of immune cell clusters for CT26 WT and STK11 KO clones as indicated. *p < 0.05, one-way ANOVA. (G) Levels of intratumoral granulocytic (Ly6G+) cells as a fraction of CD45+ immune cells in WT and STK11 KO CT26 tumors as determined by flow cytometry. (H) UMAP representation showing single-cell RNA subclustering of the monocyte/macrophage/DC sub-populations as determined by Louvain clustering. (I) Top highly expressed genes between monocyte/macrophage/DC sub-clusters used for annotation as labeled in K and L. (J) Percentage of monocyte/macrophage/DC sub-populations per sample. (K) Comparison between median percentage of cells that are present in each monocyte/macrophage/DC cluster among CT26 WT and STK11 KO clones. *p < 0.05, one-way ANOVA comparing CT26 STK11 KO clones to CT26 WT. (L) Hierarchical clustering of monocyte/macrophage subpopulations (Mono.Macro) based on M1 and M2 gene signatures, as defined by Orecchioni M, et al (5). Genes were also subjected to hierarchical clustering. (M) Levels of intra-tumoral CD163+ tumor-associated macrophages determined by IHC. (N) CD45neg tumor and non-immune stromal cell RNA levels of chemokines and chemokines associated with recruitment and suppressive function of MDSCs and TAMs and of TMEM173/STING.</p>
<p>Antitumor efficacy of TNFRSF agonist immunotherapies in CT26 STK11wt or KO mice. Survival of mice engrafted with (A) CT26 WT or (B) CT26 STK11 KO clone 26C16 treated with isotype control antibodies, anti-PD-L1 plus anti-CTLA-4 mAbs or immune agonist Abs anti-OX40, anti-ICOS, or anti-CD137, as indicated.</p>
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma upregulates CD73, potentially contributing to immune surveillance evasion. Combining oleclumab (CD73 inhibitor) and durvalumab with chemotherapy may identify an effective treatment option.
Transport of molecules across cellular membranes is a key biological process for normal cell function. In this review we describe current state-of-the-art knowledge on molecular mechanism of secondary active transporters obtained by molecular simulations studies.
The recent Vibrio parahaemolyticus sodium/galactose (vSGLT) symporter crystal structure captures the protein in an inward-facing substrate-bound conformation, with the sodium ion placed, by structural alignment, in a site equivalent to the Na2 site of the leucine transporter (LeuT). A recent study, based on molecular dynamics simulations, showed that the sodium ion spontaneously leaves its initial position diffusing outside vSGLT, toward the intracellular space. This suggested that the crystal structure corresponds to an ion-releasing state of the transporter. Here, using metadynamics, we identified a more stable Na(+) binding site corresponding to a putative ion-retaining state of the transporter. In addition, our simulations, consistently with mutagenesis studies, highlight the importance of D189 that, without being one of the Na(+)-coordinating residues, regulates its binding/release.