Abstract 1817: Epidermal growth factor receptor alters major histocompatibility complex class I expression on pancreatic cancer cells
Authors: Knoche Shelby M. , Solheim Joyce C. 
Published: July 2021

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest neoplasms, with a poor 5-year survival rate of just 10%. The ability of pancreatic cancer cells to evade the immune system hinders an anti-tumor response and contributes to the poor survival rate. In some cases, down regulation of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I cell-surface expression aids in immune evasion by preventing endogenous tumor antigens from being presented to cytotoxic T cells. The goal of this study is to evaluate the role epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plays in the regulation of MHC class I expression by pancreatic cancer cells. Pancreatic cancer cell lines were treated with epidermal growth factor (EGF) or transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) to activate EGFR or with the small molecule drug erlotinib to inhibit EGFR. Immunoprecipitation, western blot analysis, and flow cytometry were used to analyze cells' MHC class I expression post treatment. Human pancreatic cancer cell lines (BxPC-3, T3M4, S2-013, Panc-1) were found to decrease MHC class I expression after EGFR activation by EGF. However, activation of EGFR via TGF-alpha led to differential effects on MHC class I expression in a cell line-dependent manner. EGFR inhibition by erlotinib led to increased MHC class I expression by greater than 2.5-fold on both human and mouse pancreatic cancer cells. Mechanistic studies were done to evaluate the role of src homology 2 phosphatase (SHP2) in EGFR's regulation of MHC class I in pancreatic cancer cells, since in head and neck cancer cells SHP2 can be phosphorylated by activated EGFR and subsequently dephosphorylate STAT1 and reduce MHC class I expression. Following SHP2 knockdown by siRNA transfection, a slight increase in MHC class I expression was observed on pancreatic cancer cells, suggesting SHP2 has a minor down-regulatory role in MHC class I expression in these cells. EGFR was found to co-immunoprecipitate with MHC class I, indicating that EGFR might directly affect MHC class I expression by facilitating its endocytosis. However, after EGFR inhibition, no change in the MHC class I cell surface turnover rate was observed. Other potential mechanisms for EGFR regulation of MHC class I expression are currently being evaluated. Our discoveries defining a role for activated EGFR in reducing MHC class I expression and revealing that EGFR inhibitors can boost MHC class I levels on cancer cells could facilitate the adoption of new, more effective therapeutic tactics that combine the use of EGFR inhibitors with immunotherapies to augment patients' immune systems for effective targeting and killing of cancer cells.

Citation Format: Shelby M. Knoche, Joyce C. Solheim. Epidermal growth factor receptor alters major histocompatibility complex class I expression on pancreatic cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1817.