Development of pharmacological immunoregulatory anticancer therapeutics:current mechanistic studies and clinical opportunities

Immunotherapy represented by anti-PD-(L)1 and anti-CTLA-4 inhibitors has revolutionized cancer treatment,but challenges related to resistance and toxicity still remain.Due to the advancement of immuno-oncology,an increasing number of novel immunoregulatory targets and mechanisms are being revealed,with relevant therapies promising to improve clinical immunotherapy in the foreseeable future.Therefore,comprehending the larger picture is important.In this review,we analyze and summarize the current landscape of preclinical and translational mechanistic research,drug development,and clinical trials that brought about next-generation pharmacological immunoregulatory anti-cancer agents and drug candidates beyond classical immune checkpoint inhibitors.Along with further clarification of cancer immunobiology and advances in antibody engineering,agents targeting additional inhibitory immune checkpoints,including LAG-3,TIM-3,TIGIT,CD47,and B7 family members are becoming an important part of cancer immunotherapy research and discovery,as are structurally and functionally optimized novel anti-PD-(L)1 and anti-CTLA-4 agents and agonists of co-stimulatory molecules of T cells.Exemplified by bispecific T cell engagers,newly emerging bi-specific and multi-specific antibodies targeting immunoregulatory molecules can provide considerable clinical benefits.Next-generation agents also include immune epigenetic drugs and cytokine-based therapeutics.Cell therapies,cancer vaccines,and oncolytic viruses are not covered in this review.This comprehensive review might aid in further development and the fastest possible clinical adoption of effective immuno-oncology modalities for the benefit of patients.

METTL3-mediated m^(6)A RNA methylation regulates dorsal lingual epithelium homeostasis

The dorsal lingual epithelium,which is composed of taste buds and keratinocytes differentiated from K14^(+)basal cells,discriminates taste compounds and maintains the epithelial barrier.N6-methyladenosine(m^(6)A)is the most abundant mRNA modification in eukaryotic cells.How METTL3-mediated m^(6)A modification regulates K14^(+)basal cell fate during dorsal lingual epithelium formation and regeneration remains unclear.Here we show knockout of Mettl3 in K14^(+)cells reduced the taste buds and enhanced keratinocytes.Deletion of Mettl3 led to increased basal cell proliferation and decreased cell division in taste buds.Conditional Mettl3 knock-in mice showed little impact on taste buds or keratinization,but displayed increased proliferation of cells around taste buds in a protective manner during post-irradiation recovery.Mechanically,we revealed that the most frequent m^(6)A modifications were enriched in Hippo and Wnt signaling,and specific peaks were observed near the stop codons of Lats1 and FZD7.Our study elucidates that METTL3 is essential for taste bud formation and could promote the quantity recovery of taste bud after radiation.

Cytokinome of adult-derived human liver stem/progenitor cells:immunological and inflammatory features

Background: Being non-immunogenic and capable of achieving major metabolic liver functions, adult-derived human liver stem/progenitor cells (ADHLSCs) are of special interest in the field of liver cell therapy. The cytokine repertoire of engrafted cells may have critical impacts on the immune response balance, particularly during cell transplantation. Methods: In this work, we analyzed the cytokinome of ADHLSCs during hepatogenic differentiation (HD) following stimulation with a mixture of inflammatory cytokines (I) in vitro and compared it to that of mature hepatocytes. Results: Independent of their hepatic state, ADHLSCs showed no constitutive expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which were significantly induced by inflammation (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, TNFα, CCL5, IL-12a, IL-12b, IL-23p19, IL-27p28 and EBI-3). IL1-RA and IDO-1, as immunoregulatory cytokines, were highly induced in undifferentiated ADHLSCs, whereas TGF-β was downregulated by both hepatic and inflammatory events. Interestingly, TDO-1 was exclusively expressed in ADHLSCs after hepatic differentiation and enhanced by inflammatory cytokines. Compared to mature hepatocytes, hepatic-differentiated ADHLSCs showed significantly different cytokine expression patterns. Conclusions: By establishing the cytokinome of ADHLSCs and highlighting their immunological and inflammatory features, we can enhance our knowledge about the safety and efficiency of the transplantation strategy.