Genetically manipulating protein level in colon cancer cells can improve chemotherapy

Genetically manipulating protein level in colon cancer cells can improve chemotherapy
Credit: Mayo Clinic

Colorectal cancer outcomes may improve by genetically altering an immune-regulatory protein in cancer cells, making the cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy. That's according to new Mayo Clinic research.

The findings, published this month in Oncogene, indicate that increasing the expression of the PD-L1 protein in colorectal can improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

"These findings, if verified by subsequent research, suggest that the level of tumor cell PD-L1 may be important in drug sensitivity and suggest that enhancing PD-L1 expression may be a potential strategy to improve treatment outcomes in this malignancy," says Frank Sinicrope, M.D., a Mayo Clinic medical oncologist and gastroenterologist. Dr. Sinicrope is co-director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Program at Mayo Clinic and corresponding author of the study.

PD-L1 is an immune checkpoint protein that interacts with another , PD-1, to negatively affect cell functions and enable tumor to evade the body's immune system. Research has shown that interrupting the PD-L1/PD-1 interaction can enhance attacks on anti-tumor immunity.

However, the Mayo Clinic study describes another function of PD-L1: its effect on proteins that regulate tumor cell death. Deleting the PD-L1 gene suppressed two proteins that are associated with increased chemotherapy-induced cell death. In contrast, restoring PD-L1 expression reversed the suppression of these proteins.

"We sought to determine the relevance of our findings for PD-L1 in patients with ," Dr. Sinicrope says. "To do so, we utilized the Cancer Genome Atlas database of the National Cancer Institute to examine the association of PD-L1 expression with the survival of patients with ."

The study found that increased tumor cell PD-L1 expression was associated with better survival among patients expected to have received chemotherapy, which is the standard of care for patients with stage 3 and stage 4 cancers, according to Dr. Sinicrope.

"This suggests a broader role for PD-L1 as a possible predictive biomarker for how patients will respond to treatment, though more research is needed to address this issue," he says.

The study also found that the BRAF oncogene, a gene that can transform a cell into a cancer cell, can regulate the expression of PD-L1. When the BRAF oncogene is mutated, it can increase PD-L1 expression in colorectal cancer cells, according to the study.

"Current therapies targeting PD-L1 are mainly focused on blocking or disrupting its function in tumor cells," says Haidong Dong, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic immunologist and co-author of the study. "This work suggests that enhancement of PD-L1 expression in may promote the efficacy of chemotherapy, at least in colon cancer. It is an idea-changing discovery that, if validated in clinical trials, would bring more benefit to patients with colon cancer that is resistant to current chemotherapy."

More information: Daofu Feng et al. BRAFV600E-induced, tumor intrinsic PD-L1 can regulate chemotherapy-induced apoptosis in human colon cancer cells and in tumor xenografts, Oncogene (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41388-019-0919-y

Journal information: Oncogene
Provided by Mayo Clinic
Citation: Genetically manipulating protein level in colon cancer cells can improve chemotherapy (2019, August 26) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-08-genetically-protein-colon-cancer-cells.html
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