Bone marrow infiltrated Lnc-INSR induced suppressive immune microenvironment in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Cell Death Dis. 2018 Oct 11;9(10):1043. doi: 10.1038/s41419-018-1078-8.

Abstract

Immune escape due to immunosuppressive microenvironments, such as those associated with regulatory T (Treg) cells is highly associated with initial occurrence and development of solid tumors or hematologic malignancies. Here, we employed high-throughput transcriptome screening to demonstrate immunosuppression-associated increases in the long noncoding (lnc) RNA lnc-insulin receptor precursor (INSR), which was corrected with INSR expression in CD4+ T cells extracted from the bone marrow of patients with childhood acute T lymphoblastic leukemia. Loss-of-function and gain-of-function assays in vitro and in vivo revealed that membrane-localized and cytoplasm-localized lnc-INSR promoted Treg distribution and decreased the percentage of cytotoxic T lymphocytes, which induced tumor growth. Through direct binding with INSR, lnc-INSR blocked the INSR ubiquitination site, causing abnormal activation of INSR and the phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase/AKT-signaling pathway. These results indicated that lnc-INSR might promote immune suppression by enhancing Treg-cell differentiation and serve as valuable therapeutic targets in the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Animals
  • Antigens, CD / immunology*
  • Bone Marrow / immunology*
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation / physiology
  • Child
  • Humans
  • Immunosuppression Therapy / methods
  • Jurkat Cells
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred NOD
  • Mice, SCID
  • Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase / immunology
  • Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / immunology*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / immunology
  • RNA, Long Noncoding / immunology*
  • Receptor, Insulin / immunology*
  • Signal Transduction / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / immunology
  • Transcriptome / immunology
  • Tumor Microenvironment / genetics*

Substances

  • Antigens, CD
  • RNA, Long Noncoding
  • Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase
  • INSR protein, human
  • Receptor, Insulin
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt