title: Targeting STAT3 signaling reduces immunosuppressive myeloid cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
abstract: Cumulative evidence suggests that constitutively activated signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT3) may contribute to sustaining immunosuppressive status, and that inhibiting STAT3 signaling represents a potential strategy to improve antitumor immunity. In the present study, we observed that high levels phosphorylated of STAT3 are significantly associated with the markers for both myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Additionally, we showed that targeting STAT3 signaling with a tolerable selective inhibitor S3I-201 significantly decreased immature myeloid cells such as MDSCs, TAMs and iDCs in genetically defined mice HNSCC model. These findings highlight that targeting STAT3 signaling may be effective to enhance antitumor immunity via myeloid suppressor cells in HNSCC.
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology & Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China; Department of Oral Maxillofacial-Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Lin-Lin
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology & Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Guang-Tao
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology & Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Wei
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology & Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology & Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology & Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Si-Rui
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology & Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Teng-Fei
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Functional Genomics Section, Laboratory of Cell and Developmental Biology, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Bradford
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: Functional Genomics Section, Laboratory of Cell and Developmental Biology, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Ashok B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology & Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China; Department of Oral Maxillofacial-Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Feng
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology & Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China; Department of Oral Maxillofacial-Head Neck Oncology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China; Functional Genomics Section, Laboratory of Cell and Developmental Biology, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Zhi-Jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Sun
keywords: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; STAT3; myeloid-derived suppressor cells; tumor-associated macrophages