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IL-15 activates mTOR and primes stress-activated gene-expression leading to prolonged anti-tumor capacity of NK cells

ABSTRACT: Treatment of hematological malignancies by adoptive transfer of activated natural killer (NK) cells is limited by poor post-infusion persistence. We compared the ability of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and IL-15 to sustain human NK cell functions following cytokine withdrawal to model post-infusion performance. In contrasts to IL-2, IL-15 mediated stronger signaling through the IL-2/15 receptor complex and provided functional advantages. Genome-wide analysis of cytosolic and polysome-associated mRNA revealed cytokine dependent differential mRNA levels and translation during cytokine activation but also that most gene expression differences were primed by IL-15 and only manifested after cytokine withdrawal. IL-15 augmented mTOR signaling, which correlated with increased expression of genes related to cell metabolism and respiration. Consistently, mTOR inhibition abrogated IL-15-induced functional advantages. Moreover, mTOR-independent STAT-5 signaling contributed to improved NK cell function during cytokine activation but not following cytokine withdrawal. The superior performance of IL-15 stimulated NK cells was also observed using a clinically applicable protocol for NK cell expansion. Finally, expression of IL-15 correlated with cytolytic immune functions in patients with B cell lymphoma and favorable clinical outcome. These findings highlight the importance of mTOR regulated metabolic processes for immune cell functions and argue for implementation of IL-15 in adoptive NK cell cancer therapy.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE77808 | GEO | 2016/08/24

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA311600

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Treatment of hematological malignancies by adoptive transfer of activated natural killer (NK) cells is limited by poor post-infusion persistence. We compared the ability of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and IL-15 to sustain human NK cell functions following cytokine withdrawal to model post-infusion performance. In contrasts to IL-2, IL-15 mediated stronger signaling through the IL-2/15 receptor complex and provided functional advantages. Genome-wide analysis of cytosolic and polysome-associated mRNA revealed cytokine dependent differential mRNA levels and translation during cytokine activation but also that most gene expression differences were primed by IL-15 and only manifested after cytokine withdrawal. IL-15 augmented mTOR signaling, which correlated with increased expression of genes related to cell metabolism and respiration. Consistently, mTOR inhibition abrogated IL-15-induced functional advantages. Moreover, mTOR-independent STAT-5 signaling contributed to improved NK cell function during cytokine activation but not following cytokine withdrawal. The superior performance of IL-15 stimulated NK cells was also observed using a clinically applicable protocol for NK cell expansion. Finally, expression of IL-15 correlated with cytolytic immune functions in patients with B cell lymphoma and favorable clinical outcome. These findings highlight the importance of mTOR regulated metabolic processes for immune cell functions and argue for implementation of IL-15 in adoptive NK cell cancer therapy. Freshly isolated NK cells from 6 donors were activated with IL-2 or IL-15 for 48 hours, followed by cytokine withdrawal for 24 hours, resulting in four RNA samples per donor. From each sample, both the cytosolic as well as the polysomal fraction were collected. Donor 3 contains activation and post withdrawal data from two different donors due to poor RNA-quality obtained for some samples which did not allow for processing of the complete set of 6 donors (resulting in a total of 40 samples).

Project description:The optimal T cell attributes for the adoptive immunotherapy of cancer and viral diseases are currently unclear. Recent adoptive transfer clinical trials using ex vivo expanded tumor infiltrating lymphocytes has provided evidence that differentiated effector T cells can mediate durable responses in selected cancer patients. The capacity of these transferred cells to persist in the host was found to strongly correlate with their clinical activity. Thus, there is significant interest in identifying intrinsic markers that define antigen specific effector T cells that can develop into long-lived memory cells rather than undergoing apoptosis after infusion in humans. We recently reported the long term persistence of ex vivo expanded tumor specific CD8+ T effector clones in refractory metastatic melanoma patients after adoptive T cell transfer. By utilizing these highly homogeneous clone populations, we sought to define the pre-infusion cellular and molecular attributes associated with their effector to memory transition. Comparative transcriptional profiling found the pre-infusion clone mRNA expression levels of the IL-7 receptor (IL-7Ra) and the proto-oncogene, c-myc, directly correlated with the level of clonal persistence after adoptive transfer in humans. The predictive value of these markers was further established by utilizing IL-7R protein, induced pSTAT5, and c-myc mRNA expression to prospectively identify human tumor specific effector clones that could engraft after controlled adoptive transfer into highly immunodeficient mice. These findings support that IL-7R and c-myc expression are valuable cell intrinsic markers that can predict the fate of effector CD8+ T cells after adoptive transfer. We used microarrays to compare the pre-infusion gene expression profile of melanoma-specific CD8+ T cell clones that would eventually either persist or not after adoptive transfer in humans. We derived ten melanoma-specific CD8+ T cell clones and determined their degree of persistence after adoptive therapy into patients. We performed microarray on the pre-infusion samples of six persisting and four non-persisting clones to obtain a comparative gene signature profile.

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IL-15 activates mTOR and primes stress-activated gene-expression leading to prolonged anti-tumor capacity of NK cells

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