Novel extracellular role of REIC/Dkk-3 protein in PD-L1 regulation in cancer cells

作者：Gohara, Yuma; Tomonobu, Nahoko; Kinoshita, Rie; Futami, Junichiro; Audebert, Lena; Chen, Youyi; Komalasari, Ni Luh Gede Yoni; Jiang, Fan; Yoshizawa, Chikako; Murata, Hitoshi; Yamamoto, Ken-ichi; Watanabe, Masami; Kumon, Hiromi; Sakaguchi, Masakiyo^*

来源：Journal of Molecular Medicine, 2023, 101(4): 431-447.

DOI：10.1007/s00109-023-02292-w

• Breast cancer
• REIC
• Dkk-3
• PD-L1
• Immune checkpoint
• Cancer therapy

The adenovirus-REIC/Dkk-3 expression vector (Ad-REIC) has been the focus of numerous clinical studies due to its potential for the quenching of cancers. The cancer-suppressing mechanisms of the REIC/DKK-3 gene depend on multiple pathways that exert both direct and indirect effects on cancers. The direct effect is triggered by REIC/Dkk-3-mediated ER stress that causes cancer-selective apoptosis, and the indirect effect can be classified in two ways: (i) induction, by Ad-REIC-mis-infected cancer-associated fibroblasts, of the production of IL-7, an important activator of T cells and NK cells, and (ii) promotion, by the secretory REIC/Dkk-3 protein, of dendritic cell polarization from monocytes. These unique features allow Ad-REIC to exert effective and selective cancer-preventative effects in the manner of an anticancer vaccine. However, the question of how the REIC/Dkk-3 protein leverages anticancer immunity has remained to be answered. We herein report a novel function of the extracellular REIC/Dkk-3-namely, regulation of an immune checkpoint via modulation of PD-L1 on the cancer-cell surface. First, we identified novel interactions of REIC/Dkk-3 with the membrane proteins C5aR, CXCR2, CXCR6, and CMTM6. These proteins all functioned to stabilize PD-L1 on the cell surface. Due to the dominant expression of CMTM6 among the proteins in cancer cells, we next focused on CMTM6 and observed that REIC/Dkk-3 competed with CMTM6 for PD-L1, thereby liberating PD-L1 from its complexation with CMTM6. The released PD-L1 immediately underwent endocytosis-mediated degradation. These results will enhance our understanding of not only the physiological nature of the extracellular REIC/Dkk-3 protein but also the Ad-REIC-mediated anticancer effects.Key messages center dot REIC/Dkk-3 protein effectively suppresses breast cancer progression through an acceleration of PD-L1 degradation.center dot PD-L1 stability on the cancer cell membrane is kept high by binding with mainly CMTM6.center dot Competitive binding of REIC/Dkk-3 protein with CMTM6 liberates PD-L1, leading to PD-L1 degradation.

• 单位
  哈尔滨医科大学; 5; 1