Abstract 1468: Low exposures to amphibole or serpentine asbestos in germline Bap1-mutant mice induce mesotheliomacharacterized by an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment
Authors: Kadariya Yuwaraj , Sementino Eleonora , Ruan Maggie , Cheung Mitchell , Klein-Szanto Andres J. , Cai Kathy , Testa Joseph R. 
Published: March 2024

The purpose of this study was to determine if minimal exposures to amphibole (crocidolite) and serpentine (chrysotile) asbestos fibers significantly increase the incidence and rate of malignant mesothelioma (MM) onset in mice with a germline heterozygous Bap1 mutation, and to assess the effect of the resulting gene × environment interactions on the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). The studies were carried out by chronically injecting intraperitoneally Bap1+/- and Bap1+/+ (wild-type, WT) mice with minimal doses of asbestos (in some experiments, as low as 0.0125 mg x 8 injections; total, 0.1 mg/mouse) and then monitoring the mice for tumor formation for up to 90 weeks. Pro-inflammatory and pro-tumorigenic factors in the TIME were evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF) for immune cell markers. With either type of asbestos and at each dose tested, MMs occurred at a significantly higher rate and earlier onset time in Bap1-mutant mice than in WT littermates. MMs from mice injected with chrysotile, but less so with crocidolite, had widespread adhesions in the peritoneal cavity owing to an overwhelming immune response, particularly at the higher dose used. IHC staining demonstrated an increased number of immune cells in granulomas and MMs. In particular, pro-inflammatory M1 macrophages were found mainly in granulomas, whereas pro-tumorigenic M2 macrophages were predominant in MMs. IF staining revealed that the relative number of M2 macrophages was strikingly greater in chrysotile-induced than crocidolite-induced MMs, suggesting that chrysotile induces a more profound immune response. MMs from Bap1-mutant mice showed upregulation of both CD39/CD73-adenosine and Ccl2/Ccr2 pathways, which collectively are known to mechanistically create favorable conditions for neoplastic transformation, invasion, and the development of an immunosuppressive TIME, in part by attracting M2 macrophages. This implies that chemoprevention and immunotherapy strategies targeting these pro-tumorigenic immune pathways could be beneficial in BAP1 mutation carriers. In conclusion, we provide evidence that low-level exposures to either chrysotile or crocidolite in germline Bap1 heterozygous mice result in a markedly increased risk of MM characterized by an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Drawing parallels to humans, these experimental findings suggest that exposure of BAP1 mutation carriers to even minimal doses of different forms of asbestos may be associated with significantly enhanced susceptibility to MM.

Citation Format: Yuwaraj Kadariya, Eleonora Sementino, Maggie Ruan, Mitchell Cheung, Andres J. Klein-Szanto, Kathy Cai, Joseph R. Testa. Low exposures to amphibole or serpentine asbestos in germline Bap1-mutant mice induce mesotheliomacharacterized by an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 1468.