학술논문

RNF2 ablation reprograms the tumor-immune microenvironment and stimulates durable NK and CD4+ T-cell-dependent antitumor immunity
Document Type
Original Paper
Source
Nature Cancer. 2(10):1018-1038
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
2662-1347
Abstract
Expanding the utility of immune-based cancer treatments is a clinical challenge due to tumor-intrinsic factors that suppress the immune response. Here we report the identification of tumoral ring finger protein 2 (RNF2), the core subunit of polycomb repressor complex 1, as a negative regulator of antitumor immunity in various human cancers, including breast cancer. In syngeneic murine models of triple-negative breast cancer, we found that deleting genes encoding the polycomb repressor complex 1 subunits Rnf2, BMI1 proto-oncogene, polycomb ring finger (Bmi1), or the downstream effector of Rnf2, remodeling and spacing factor 1 (Rsf1), was sufficient by itself to induce durable tumor rejection and establish immune memory by enhancing infiltration and activation of natural killer and CD4+ T cells, but not CD8+ T cells, into the tumor and enabled their cooperativity. These findings uncover an epigenetic reprogramming of the tumor-immune microenvironment, which fosters durable antitumor immunity and memory.
Using in vivo models and human cancer datasets, Yang and colleagues identify a role for the epigenetic regulator Rnf2 in repressing the antitumor immune responses of natural killer and CD4+ T cells.