GSE201367
CTLA-4 blockade induces tumor pyroptosis via CD8+ T cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy has demonstrated promising clinical results in oncology and is currently one of the most sought-after immunotherapies for tumors. However, there are a number of issues with ICB therapy, including low response rates and a lack of effective efficacy predictors. Gasdermin-mediated pyroptosis is a typical form of inflammatory death mode, but it is unclear whether ICB treatment can trigger its occurrence or whether gasdermin expression has any effect on the response rate to ICB treatment. Herein, we discovered that high expression of gasdermin protein was associated with a favorable tumor immune microenvironment and a favorable prognosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), and taking advantage of the mouse HNSCC cell line 4MOSC1 (responsive to CTLA-4 blockade) and 4MOSC2 (resistant to CTLA-4 blockade) orthotopic models, we also demonstrated that CTLA-4 blockade treatment induced gasdermin-mediated pyroptosis of tumor cells and that the expression of gasdermin was positively associated with the effectiveness of CTLA-4 blocking treatment. Mechanistically, through RNA sequencing, flow cytometry, ELISA, Western blotting and RT-PCR, we discovered that CTLA-4 blockade activated CD8+ T cells in the tumor and increased the levels of the cytokines TNF-a and IFN-? in the tumor microenvironment, and that TNF-a and IFN-? synergistically activated the STAT1/IRF1 axis, inducing tumor cell pyroptosis and the release of large amounts of inflammatory substances and chemokines such as CXCL10. Overall design: 4MOSC1-Control as control group: 3, 4MOSC1-TNF-a+IFN-? (stimulation with TNF-a and IFN-?) group: 3