Aikaterini Hatzioannou

Dr. Aikaterini Hatzioannou


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

9Years (2018-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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6 August 2018 in Journal of Clinical Investigation
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
TAThemis Alissafi
Themis Alissafi
AHAikaterini Hatzioannou
Aikaterini Hatzioannou
KMKonstantinos Mintzas
Konstantinos Mintzas
RBRoza Maria Barouni
Roza Maria Barouni
Aggelos BanosAggelos Banos
Aggelos Banos
PVPanayotis Verginis
Panayotis Verginis
Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) densely accumulate into tumors and potently suppress antitumor immune responses, promoting tumor development. Targeting MDSCs in tumor immunotherapy has been hampered by lack of understanding of the molecular pathways that govern MDSC differentiation and function. Herein, we identify autophagy as a crucial pathway for MDSC-mediated suppression of antitumor immunity. Specifically, MDSCs in patients with melanoma and mouse melanoma exhibited increased levels of functional autophagy. Ablation of autophagy in myeloid cells markedly delayed tumor growth and endowed antitumor immune responses. Notably, tumor-infiltrating autophagy-deficient monocytic MDSCs (M-MDSCs) demonstrated impaired suppressive activity in vitro and in vivo, whereas transcriptome analysis revealed substantial differences in genes related to lysosomal function. Accordingly, autophagy-deficient M-MDSCs exhibited impaired lysosomal degradation, thereby enhancing surface expression of MHC class II molecules, resulting in efficient activation of tumor-specific CD4+ T cells. Finally, targeting of the membrane-associated RING-CH1 (MARCH1) E3 ubiquitin ligase that mediates the lysosomal degradation of MHC II in M-MDSCs attenuated their suppressive function, and resulted in markedly decreased tumor volume followed by development of a robust antitumor immunity. Collectively, these findings depict autophagy as a molecular target of MDSC-mediated suppression of antitumor immunity.