One of many types of extracellular vesicles (EVs), exosomes are nanovesicle structures that are released by almost all living cells that can perform a wide range of critical biological functions. Exosomes play important roles in both normal and pathological conditions by regulating cell-cell communication in cancer, angiogenesis, cellular differentiation, osteogenesis, and inflammation. Exosomes are stable in vivo and they can regulate biological processes by transferring lipids, proteins, nucleic acids, and even entire signaling pathways through the circulation to cells at distal sites. Recent advances in the identification, production, and purification of exosomes have created opportunities to exploit these structures as novel drug delivery systems, modulators of cell signaling, mediators of antigen presentation, as well as biological targeting agents and diagnostic tools in cancer therapy. This review will examine the functions of immunocyte-derived exosomes and their roles in the immune response under physiological and pathological conditions. The use of immunocyte exosomes in immunotherapy and vaccine development is discussed.

Natural killer (NK) cells, key members of a distinct hempatopoietic lineage, innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), are critical effectors that mediate cytotoxicity toward tumor and virally-infected cells but also regulate inflammation, antigen presentation and the adaptive immune response. It has been shown that NK cells can regulate the development and activation of many other components of the immune response such as dendritic cells, which in turn, modulate the function of NK cells in multiple synergistic feed back loops driven by cell-cell contact and the secretion of cytokines and chemokines that control effector function and migration of cells to sites of immune activation. The Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT)-3 is involved in driving almost all of the pathways that control NK cytolytic activity as well as the reciprocal regulatory interactions between NK cells and other components of the immune system. In the context of tumor immunology, NK cells are a first line of defense that eliminates pre-cancerous and transformed cells early in the process of carcinogenesis, through a mechanism of “immune surveillance”. Even after tumors become established, NK cells are critical components of anti-cancer immunity: dysfunctional NK cells are often found in the peripheral blood of cancer patients and the lack of NK cells in the tumor microenvironment often correlates with poor prognosis. The pathways and soluble factors activated in tumor-associated NK cells, cancer cells, and regulatory myeloid cells which determine the outcome of cancer immunity are all critically regulated by STAT3. Using the tumor microenvironment as a paradigm, we present here an overview of the research that has revealed fundamental mechanisms through which STAT3 regulates all aspects of natural killer cell biology, including NK development, activation, target cell killing, and fine tuning of the innate and adaptive immune responses.

Background and Aims: We have previously demonstrated that the stage of differentiation of tumors has profound effect on the function of NK cells, and that stem-like/poorly differentiated tumors were preferentially targeted by the NK cells. Therefore, in this study we determined the role of super-charged NK cells in immune mobilization, lysis, and differentiation of stem-like/undifferentiated tumors implanted in the pancreas of humanized-BLT (hu-BLT) mice fed with or without AJ2 probiotics. The phenotype, growth rate and metastatic potential of pancreatic tumors differentiated by the NK cells (NK-differentiated) or patient derived differentiated or stem-like/undifferentiated pancreatic tumors were investigated. Methods: Pancreatic tumor implantation was performed in NSG and hu-BLT mice. Stage of differentiation of tumors was determined using our published criteria for well-differentiated tumors exhibiting higher surface expression of MHC- class I, CD54, and PD-L1 (B7H1) and lower expression of CD44 receptors. The inverse was seen for poorly-differentiated tumors. Results: Stem-like/undifferentiated pancreatic tumors grew rapidly and formed large tumors and exhibited lower expression of above-mentioned differentiation antigens in the pancreas of NSG and hu-BLT mice. Unlike stem-like/undifferentiated tumors, NK-differentiated MP2 (MiaPaCa-2) tumors or patient-derived differentiated tumors were not able to grow or grew smaller tumors, and were unable to metastasize in NSG or hu-BLT mice, and they were susceptible to chemotherapeutic drugs. Stem-like/undifferentiated pancreatic tumors implanted in the pancreas of hu-BLT mice and injected with super-charged NK cells formed much smaller tumors, proliferated less, and exhibited differentiated phenotype. When differentiation of stem-like tumors by the NK cells was prevented by the addition of antibodies to IFN-γ and TNF-α, tumors grew rapidly and metastasized, and they remained resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs. Greater numbers of immune cells infiltrated the tumors of NK-injected and AJ2-probiotic bacteria-fed mice. Moreover, increased IFN-γ secretion in the presence of decreased IL-6 was seen in tumors resected and cultured from NK-injected and AJ2 fed mice. Tumor-induced decreases in NK cytotoxicity and IFN-γ secretion were restored/increased within PBMCs, spleen, and bone marrow when mice received NK cells and were fed with AJ2. Conclusion: NK cells prevent growth of pancreatic tumors through lysis and differentiation, thereby curtailing the growth and metastatic potential of stem-like/undifferentiated-tumors.

Advanced prostate cancer (PCa) patients with bone metastases are treated with androgen pathway directed therapy (APDT). However, this treatment invariably fails and the cancer becomes castration resistant. To elucidate resistance mechanisms and to provide a more predictive pre-clinical research platform reflecting tumor heterogeneity, we established organoids from a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model of bone metastatic prostate cancer, PCSD1. APDT-resistant PDX-derived organoids (PDOs) emerged when cultured without androgen or with the anti-androgen, enzalutamide. Transcriptomics revealed up-regulation of neurogenic and steroidogenic genes and down-regulation of DNA repair, cell cycle, circadian pathways and the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 host viral entry factors, ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Time course analysis of the cell cycle in live cells revealed that enzalutamide induced a gradual transition into a reversible dormant state as shown here for the first time at the single cell level in the context of multi-cellular, 3D living organoids using the Fucci2BL fluorescent live cell cycle tracker system. We show here a new mechanism of castration resistance in which enzalutamide induced dormancy and novel basal-luminal-like cells in bone metastatic prostate cancer organoids. These PDX organoids can be used to develop therapies targeting dormant APDT-resistant cells and host factors required for SARS-CoV-2 viral entry.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC) is the most common malignancy of the digestive system, causing over two hundred thousand deaths annually in China and over 750,000 deaths worldwide. The high invasiveness and metastatic rates are mainly responsible for mortality due to GC. Thus, it is an urgent priority to explore the mechanisms underlying GC metastasis to improve cancer diagnosis develop more effective biological targeting agents. METHODS: High-throughput RNA sequencing, quantitative PCR (q-PCR) and immunohistochemistry were used to compare PGAM1 levels in lymph node metastasis (LNM) tissues and carcinoma in situ (CIS) and noncancerous tissues from GC patients and correlated PGAM1 expression with patient prognosis, disease recurrence and mortality. In two GC cell lines (SGC7901 and BGC823) with sh-RNA-mediated PGAM1 knockdown, we analyzed cell growth in vitro, apoptosis and cell cycle progression by flow cytometry, and cell migration in wound-healing studies and transwell assays. In vivo subcutaneous growth of control and PGAM1 knockdown GC cell lines was measured in immunodeficient mice, and the potential role of PGAM1 in the expression of metastatic proteins and activation of migratory signaling was determined by flow cytometry and phospho-western blot analysis. RESULTS: We found that elevated PGAM1 expression in LNM, but not CIS tissues correlated with increased disease recurrence and death of GC patients. PGAM1 knockdown impaired proliferation, cell cycle progression and migration of GC cell lines. In a murine xenograft model, GC cells with a PGAM1 knockdown displayed decreased growth capacity in vivo relative to control cells. Western blot and flow cytometry analysis showed that PGAM1 knockdown in SGC7901 and BGC823 decreased the expression of metalloproteinases MMP2 and MMP9 as well as the adhesion molecule ICAM-I, and impaired phosphorylation of Src, FAK and Paxillin relative to parental cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that PGAM1 is a novel biomarker of metastatic GC and may play an important role in promoting GC lymph node metastasis by driving cell proliferation, activating cytoskeletal reorganization and cell migration through the Src/FAK/Paxillin pathway and promoting digestion of the extracellular matrix by upregulating the expression of MMP2 and MMP9.