title: Unraveling cancer chemoimmunotherapy mechanisms by gene and protein expression profiling of responses to cyclophosphamide.
abstract: Certain chemotherapeutic drugs, such as cyclophosphamide (CTX), can enhance the antitumor efficacy of immunotherapy because of their capacity to modulate innate and adaptive immunity. Indeed, it has been argued that this capacity may be more significant to chemotherapeutic efficacy in general than is currently appreciated. To gain insights into the core mechanisms of chemoimmunotherapy, we methodically profiled the effects of CTX on gene expression in bone marrow, spleen, and peripheral blood, and on cytokine expression in plasma and bone marrow of tumor-bearing mice. Gene and protein expression were modulated early and transiently by CTX, leading to upregulation of a variety of immunomodulatory factors, including danger signals, pattern recognition receptors, inflammatory mediators, growth factors, cytokines, chemokines, and chemokine receptors. These factors are involved in sensing CTX myelotoxicity and activating repair mechanisms, which, in turn, stimulate immunoactivation events that promote efficacy. In particular, CTX induced a T-helper 17 (Th17)-related gene signature associated with an increase in Th17, Th1, and activated CD25(+)CD4(+)Foxp3(-) T lymphocytes and a slight recovery of regulatory T cells. By analyzing gene and protein expression kinetics and their relationship to the antitumor efficacy of different therapeutic schedules of combination, we determined that optimal timing for performing adoptive immunotherapy is approximately 1 day after CTX treatment. Together, our findings highlight factors that may propel the efficacy of chemoimmunotherapy, offering a mechanistic glimpse of the important immune modulatory effects of CTX.
authors: Department of Cell Biology and Neurosciences, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. federica.moschella@iss.it
authors: Federica
authors: F
authors: Moschella
authors: Mara
authors: M
authors: Valentini
authors: Eleonora
authors: E
authors: Aricò
authors: Iole
authors: I
authors: Macchia
authors: Paola
authors: P
authors: Sestili
authors: Maria Teresa
authors: MT
authors: D'Urso
authors: Cristiano
authors: C
authors: Alessandri
authors: Filippo
authors: F
authors: Belardelli
authors: Enrico
authors: E
authors: Proietti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018906:Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating / Q000494:pharmacology; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000379:methods; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D007107:Immune System; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000166:cytology; D058504:Th17 Cells / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018906:Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating; D003520:Cyclophosphamide