Abstract

Cancers and autoimmune diseases commonly co-exist and immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy (ICI) exacerbates autoimmune pathologies. We recently described a lipidic peptide, designated IK14004, that promotes expansion of immunosuppressive T regulatory (Treg) cells and uncouples interleukin-2 from interferon-gamma production while activating CD8+ T cells. Herein, we report IK14004-mediated inhibition of Lewis lung cancer (LLC) growth and re-invigoration of splenocyte-derived exhausted CD4+ T cells. In human immune cells from healthy donors, IK14004 modulates expression of the T cell receptor α/β subunits, induces Type I IFN expression, stimulates natural killer (NK) cells to express NKG2D/NKp44 receptors and enhances K562 cytotoxicity. In both T and NK cells, IK14004 alters the IL-12 receptor β1/β2 chain ratio to favour IL-12p70 binding. Taken together, this novel peptide offers an opportunity to gain further insight into the complexity of ICI immunotherapy so that autoimmune responses may be minimised without promoting tumour evasion from the immune system.

Details

Title
An immunomodulating peptide with potential to suppress tumour growth and autoimmunity
Author
Agrez, Michael 1 ; Chandler, Christopher 2 ; Thurecht, Kristofer J. 3 ; Fletcher, Nicholas L. 3 ; Liu, Feifei 3 ; Subramaniam, Gayathri 3 ; Howard, Christopher B. 3 ; Blyth, Benjamin 4 ; Parker, Stephen 5 ; Turner, Darryl 6 ; Rzepecka, Justyna 6 ; Knox, Gavin 6 ; Nika, Anastasia 6 ; Hall, Andrew M. 6 ; Gooding, Hayley 6 ; Gallagher, Laura 6 

 InterK Peptide Therapeutics Limited, New South Wales, Australia; University of Queensland, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the ARC Training Centre for Innovation in Biomedical Imaging Technologies, Brisbane, Australia (GRID:grid.1003.2) (ISNI:0000 0000 9320 7537) 
 Auspep Pty Limited, Melbourne, Australia (GRID:grid.1003.2) 
 University of Queensland, Centre for Advanced Imaging, Brisbane, Australia (GRID:grid.1003.2) (ISNI:0000 0000 9320 7537); University of Queensland, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the ARC Training Centre for Innovation in Biomedical Imaging Technologies, Brisbane, Australia (GRID:grid.1003.2) (ISNI:0000 0000 9320 7537) 
 University of Melbourne, Department of Oncology,, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Sir Peter MacCallum, Melbourne, Australia (GRID:grid.1008.9) (ISNI:0000 0001 2179 088X) 
 InterK Peptide Therapeutics Limited, New South Wales, Australia (GRID:grid.1008.9) 
 Concept Life Sciences, Edinburgh, Scotland (GRID:grid.470306.6) (ISNI:0000 0004 4910 9410) 
Pages
19741
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2889491733
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.