Intestinal inhibition of Atg7 prevents tumour initiation through a microbiome-influenced immune response and suppresses tumour growth.

Here, we show that autophagy is activated in the intestinal epithelium in murine and human colorectal cancer and that the conditional inactivation of Atg7 in intestinal epithelial cells inhibits the formation of pre-cancerous lesions in Apc(+/-) mice by enhancing anti-tumour responses. The antibody-mediated depletion of CD8(+) T cells showed that these cells are essential for the anti-tumoral responses mediated by the inhibition of autophagy. We show that Atg7 deficiency leads to intestinal dysbiosis and that the microbiota is required for anticancer responses. In addition, Atg7 deficiency resulted in a stress response accompanied by metabolic defects, AMPK activation and p53-mediated cell-cycle arrest in tumour cells but not in normal tissue. This study reveals that the inhibition of autophagy within the epithelium may prevent the development and progression of colorectal cancer in genetically predisposed patients.

Dual role of CCR2 in the constitution and the resolution of liver fibrosis in mice.

Inflammation has been shown to induce the progression of fibrosis in response to liver injury. Among inflammatory cells, macrophages and lymphocytes play major roles in both the constitution and resolution of liver fibrosis. The chemokine receptor CCR2 is involved in the recruitment of monocytes to injury sites, and it is known to be induced during the progression of fibrosis in humans. However, its specific role during this process has not yet been unveiled. We first demonstrated that, compared with wild-type mice, CCR2 knockout animals presented a delay in liver injury after acute CCl(4) injection, accompanied by a reduction in infiltrating macrophage populations. We then induced fibrosis using repeated injections of CCl(4) and observed a significantly lower level of fibrotic scars at the peak of fibrosis in mutant animals compared with control mice. This diminished fibrosis was associated with a reduction in F4/80(+)CD11b(+) and CD11c(+) populations at the sites of injury. Subsequent analysis of the kinetics of the resolution of fibrosis showed that fibrosis rapidly regressed in wild-type, but not in CCR2(-/-) mice. The persistence of hepatic injury in mutant animals was correlated with sustained tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 mRNA expression levels and a reduction in matrix metalloproteinase-2 and matrix metalloproteinase-13 expression levels. In conclusion, these findings underline the role of the CCR2 signaling pathway in both the constitution and resolution of liver fibrotic scars.

Calpain activation is required for homocysteine-mediated hepatic degradation of inhibitor I kappa B alpha.

Hepatic steatosis is a clinical feature observed in severe hyperhomocysteinemic patients. In mice, cystathionine beta synthase (CBS) deficiency, the most common cause of severe hyperhomocysteinemia, is also associated with steatosis, fibrosis and inflammation. Proinflammatory cytokines usually induce apoptosis. However, hyperhomocysteinemia does not increase apoptosis in liver of CBS-deficient mice compared to wild type mice. The aim of the study was to analyze the activation state of the NF-kappaB pathway in liver of CBS-deficient mice and to investigate its possible involvement in anti-apoptotic signals. We analyzed the level of I kappaB alpha in liver of CBS-deficient mice. A co-culture of primary hepatocytes and Kupffer cells was also used in order to investigate how I kappaB alpha degradation occurs in response to homocysteine. We found lower I kappaB alpha level not only in liver of CBS-deficient mice but also in hepatocyte/Kupffer cell co-culture. The homocysteine-mediated I kappaB alpha enhanced proteolysis occurred via calcium-dependent calpains, which was supported by an increased level of calpain activity and a reduced expression of calpastatin in liver of CBS-deficient mice. Intraperitoneal administration of the inhibitor PDTC normalized the expression of two genes induced by NF-kappaB activation, heme oxygenase-1 and cellular inhibitor of apoptosis 2. Moreover, PDTC administration induced an increase of caspase-3 activity in liver of CBS-deficient mice. Our results suggest that hyperhomocysteinemia induces calpain-mediated I kappaB alpha degradation which is responsible for anti-apoptotic signals in liver.

Delivery of mengovirus-derived RNA replicons into tumoural liver enhances the anti-tumour efficacy of a peripheral peptide-based vaccine.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a deadly cancer with growing incidence for which immunotherapy is one of the most promising therapeutic approach. Peptide-based vaccines designed to induce strong, sustained CD8+ T cell responses are effective in animal models and cancer patients. We demonstrated the efficacy of curative peptide-based immunisation against a unique epitope of SV40 tumour antigen, through the induction of a strong CD8+ T cell-specific response, in our liver tumour model. However, as in human clinical trials, most tumour antigen epitopes did not induce a therapeutic effect, despite inducing strong CD8+ T cell responses. We therefore modified the tumour environment to enhance peptide-based vaccine efficacy by delivering mengovirus (MV)-derived RNA autoreplicating sequences (MV-RNA replicons) into the liver. The injection of replication-competent RNA replicons into the liver converted partial tumour regression into tumour eradication, whereas non-replicating RNA had no such effect. Replicating RNA replicon injection induced local recruitment of innate immunity effectors (NK and NKT) to the tumour and did not affect specific CD8+ T cell populations or other myelolymphoid subsets. The local delivery of such RNA replicons into tumour stroma is therefore a promising strategy complementary to the use of peripheral peptide-based vaccines for treating liver tumours.