Knockdown of C3 in PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC cells could significantly attenuate f growth rate, g tumor size of PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC in mice, and h potently suppress the infiltration and accumulation of PMN-MDSCs at the hepatic tissue surrounding PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC tumors ( em n /em ?=?5). oxygen consumption and energy production via fatty acid metabolism without altering aerobic glycolysis. Inhibition of fatty acid metabolism abolished PIWIL1-induced HCC proliferation and growth. RNA-seq analysis revealed that immune system regulation might be involved, which was echoed by the experimental observation that PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC cells drawn myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) into the tumor microenvironment. MDSCs depletion reduced the proliferation and growth of PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC tumors. Complement C3, whose secretion was induced by PIWIL1 in HCC cells, mediates the conversation of HCC cells with MDSCs by activated p38 MAPK signaling in MDSCs, which in turn initiated expression of immunosuppressive cytokine IL10. Neutralizing IL10 secretion reduced the immunosuppressive activity of MDSCs in the microenvironment of PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC. Taken together, our study unraveled the crucial role of PIWIL1 in initiating the conversation of cancer cell metabolism and immune cell response in HCC. Tumor cells-expressed PIWIL1 may be a potential target for the development of novel HCC treatment. was observed in PMN-MDSCs from PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC, while and Buflomedil HCl remained unchanged (Fig. ?(Fig.5a).5a). Significant induction of corresponding protein expression of IL10, Arginase-1, and iNOS was also observed (Fig. ?(Fig.5b5b and Supplementary Fig. S5a). To identify the primary pathway involved in the immunosuppressive activity of MDSCs induced by PIWIL1-overexpressing tumors, we first supplemented the Arginase-1 substrate l-arginine, or the iNOS inhibitor aminoguanidine, to the co-culture of stimulated T cells and MDSCs treated with conditioned medium derived from wild type and PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC cells. Unexpectedly, the re-supplementation of L-arginine (Supplementary Fig. S5b, c), or presence of aminoguanidine (Supplementary Fig. Buflomedil HCl S5d, e), had minimal effect on the proliferation and activation of co-cultured T cells. The addition of neutralizing antibodies against IL10 could significantly improve the proliferation and activation of stimulated cytotoxic T cells co-cultured with MDSCs treated by conditioned medium from PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC cells (Supplementary Fig. S5f, g), as well as stimulated cytotoxic T cells co-cultured with sorted MDSCs from PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC (Fig. 5c, d). Open in a separate window Fig. 5 MDSCs of PIWIL-overexpressing HCC suppresses T-cell proliferation and activation through IL10-dependent manner. The PMN-MDSCs in the hepatic tissues surrounding wild type or PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC were sorted and cultured. Significantly higher expression of PMN-MDSCs genes (a) and IL10 production (b) were observed in PMN-MDSCs from PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC; The PMN-MDSCs in the hepatic tissues surrounding wild type or PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC were sorted and co-cultured with simulated CD8?+?cytotoxic T cells in the presence of IL10 neutralizing antibody. IL10 neutralizing antibody could potentially recover the c Ki67 and d Granzyme B expression in these T cells; e Protein was extracted from sorted PMN-MDSCs, and the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and JNK were found induced in sorted PMN-MDSCs from MDSCs induced by conditioned medium from PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC cells; BMDMs was incubated with conditioned medium from PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC cells following pre-incubation of p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 (10?M) or JNK inhibitor SP600125 (10?M) for 60?min. The protein secretion of IL10 was significantly suppressed by SB203580 or SP600125 (f). All experiments were performed in triplicate. *was induced in HCC cells overexpressing PIWIL1 and was suppressed in cells with PIWIL1 knockdown (Supplementary Fig. S6a). Consistently, the secretion of complement C3 protein from HCC cells was induced by PIWIL1 overexpression (Fig. ?(Fig.6b).6b). Moreover, we observed a potent elevated C3 level in the hepatic Buflomedil HCl tissues surrounding ALK PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC tumors mice with insignificant changes at its circulating level (Fig. ?(Fig.6c).6c). While a few studies showed that complement C3 can regulate fatty acid metabolism,45 control of cellular FAO on complement C3 was never reported. This may be due to the complicated processes of FAO and multiple side products being produced, which could regulate C3 expression. In our study, we found that FAO induced by PIWIL1 overexpression can significantly increase the mitochondrial ROS production that led to oxidative stress. It was previously showed that oxidative stress in the cells is one of the mechanisms of Complement C3 activation.46 In this case, we used a mitochondrial ROS scavenger, catalase, to relieve oxidative stress. The presence of catalase in PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC cells could significantly abolish Complement C3 expression (Supplementary Fig. S6b), which indicated that FAO-mediated ROS production is at least partially, if not all, involved as a potential mechanism of Complement C3 activation in PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC cells. Open in a separate window Fig. 6 PIWIL1-induced Complement C3 expression in HCC cells regulated the immunosuppressive activity of HCC. a Gene lists in two enriched clusters, immune system regulation, and lipid metabolism regulation were overlapped. Complement C3 was the only common gene in both clusters; b the secretion of complement C3 was measured in wild type and PIWIL1-overexpressing HCC cells, which showed that PIWIL1 overexpression could remarkably.
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