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Immunogenicity of BRCA1-deficient Ovarian Cancers is Driven through DNA Sensing and is Augmented by PARP Inhibition (Hi-C)

ABSTRACT: We investigated BRCA1-deficient ovarian cancer to understand why homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) is associated with tumor T-cell inflammation. In humans and mice, BRCA1 deficiency led to increased cytoplasmic translocation of nuclear DNA, increased DNA sensing, induction of proinflammatory cytokines and T-cell recruiting chemokines, and increased tumor CD8+ T-cell infiltration. This cascade was mediated by STING and phosphorylation of TBK1, IRF3 and STAT1. BRCA1 loss activated a transcriptional reprogramming of tumor cells, leading to overexpression of the DNA sensing pathway and hyper-responsiveness to cytoplasmic DNA. Genetic alterations of the DNA sensing and interferon pathways modulated the impact of HRD on T-cell inflammation. PARP inhibitor olaparib exacerbated cytoplasmic DNA and the cell-autonomous inflammatory activation of BRCA1-deficient cancers, and rendered them susceptible to PD-1/CTLA-4 blockade. We conclude that HRD and DNA sensing drives the immunogenicity of ovarian carcinomas and predisposes them to immune vulnerability under immune checkpoint blockade.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE122154 | GEO | 2021/06/16

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:BRCA1 is an essential gene of the homologous recombination repair (HR) pathway. Ovarian cancers with BRCA1 mutations represent about 20% of HGSOC and are characterized by loss-of-function TP53 mutations, copy number alterations, chromosomal instability, high neoantigen loads and increased infiltration of intraepithelial CD8 tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). We propose that DNA damage induced by BRCA1 loss could be a tumor-autonomous inflammatory mechanism. Our hypothesis was corroborated by studies in human and mouse isogenic ovarian cancer cell lines which revealed that BRCA1 deficiency leads to increased cytoplasmic gamma H2AX+ double stranded (ds) DNA species, overexpression of proteins of the nucleic acid sensor pathway (IFI16, STING, MX1), phosphorylation of TBK1, IRF3 and STAT1 and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-b, IFN-a) and T cell recruiting chemokines (CCL5, CXCL9, CXCL10). PARP inhibition exacerbated type I IFN responses in BRCA1 deficient ovarian cancer cell lines and simultaneously increased surface expression of PDL1. Increased DNA damage, as measured by γH2AX tumor staining, was also detected in situ in human ovarian cancers with BRCA1 mutations. Importantly, we detected tumor expression of pSTAT1 confirming a type I IFN activation in tumors with DNA damage. Both DNA damage and pSTAT1 activation correlated with higher TIL infiltration and better overall survival. Our results translated in mouse models of ovarian cancer where Trp53-/-Brca1-/- but not Trp53-/-Brca1WT tumors presented with biomarkers of DNA damage, type I IFN pathway activation and responded to a therapeutic combination of PARP inhibitor Olaparib with dual checkpoint blockade antibodies. Our results provide a mechanistic link between loss of BRCA1 and induction of tumor-driven inflammatory and immunogenic responses in ovarian cancer that was mediated by tumor-cell autonomous type I IFN signaling. which translated to increased immune surveillance by CD8 T cells.

Project description:Background:This study was a hypothesis generating exploration of genomic data collected at diagnosis for 19 patients, who later participated in a clinical trial. BRCA1/2 germline mutation related hereditary cancers are candidates for new immune therapeutic interventions. However, contrary to what is expected of tumors with compromised DNA repair, a prominent tumor mutation burden (TMB) in hereditary breast and ovarian cancers in this cohort, was not correlated with high global immune activity in their microenvironments. More information is needed about the relationship between genomic instability, phenotypes and immune microenvironments of BRCA1/2 related hereditary tumors in order to find appropriate markers of immune activity and the most effective anticancer immune strategies. Methods:Mining and statistical analyses of the original DNA and RNA sequencing data and data available from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were performed using the R computing environment. To interpret the data, we have used published literature and web available resources such as Gene Ontology Tools, The Cancer immunome Atlas (TCIA) and the Cancer Research Institute iAtlas. Results: We found that BRCA1/2 germline related breast and ovarian cancers do not represent a unique phenotypic identity, but that they express a range of phenotypes similar to sporadic cancers. Importantly, BRCA2 germline mutation related breast tumors have a different profile of genomic instability compared to those related to BRCA1. However, all breast and ovarian BRCA1/2 related tumors are characterized by high homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) and low aneuploidy. Interestingly, all sporadic high grade serous ovarian cancers (HGSOC) and most of the subtypes of triple negative breast cancers (TNBC), but not other types of breast cancer, also express a high degree of HRD. Conclusion: : Tumor mutation burdon (TMB) is not associated with the magnitude of the immune response in hereditary BRCA1/2 related breast and ovarian cancers or in sporadic TNBC and sporadic HGSOC. Hereditary tumors express phenotypes as heterogenous as sporadic tumors with various degree of “BRCAness” and various characteristics of the immune microenvironments. The subtyping criteria developed for sporadic tumors can be applied for the classification of hereditary tumors and possibly also characterization of their immune microenvironment. A high HRD score may be a good candidate biomarker for response to platinum, and potentially PARP-inhibition.

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Immunogenicity of BRCA1-deficient Ovarian Cancers is Driven through DNA Sensing and is Augmented by PARP Inhibition (Hi-C)

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