THU475 Ovarian Tumor-cell Glucocorticoid Receptor Activity Modulates Cytokine Secretion Promoting Recruitment And Activation of Immunosuppressive Cells Into The Tumor Microenvironment
Authors: Taya Manisha , LeBlanc Eleanore , Bennett Lynda , Conzen Suzanne D 
Published: October 2023

Disclosure: M. Taya: None. E. LeBlanc: None. L. Bennett: None. S.D. Conzen: None.

Elevated levels of immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) circulate in the peripheral blood or infiltrate both tumors and ascites in ovarian cancer patients, however the cause for this observed phenotype is unknown. MDSCs contribute to tumor immune tolerance primarily via inhibition of cytotoxic T-cells or by activation of immunosuppressive T-regulatory cells. We previously showed that high tumor cell glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression is associated with a relatively poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients. Additionally, using primary tumor data retrieved from the ovarian cancer TCGA dataset, we show high tumor GR expression is associated with significantly higher expression of Foxp3, a marker of immunosuppressive T-regulatory cells, as well as CD33, a marker of immunosuppressive myeloid cells, further suggesting an immunosuppressive phenotype in ovarian cancer patients. We thus hypothesize that tumor-intrinsic GR activation in ovarian cancer is associated with increased MDSC infiltration into the tumor microenvironment partly due to the modulation of tumor cell cytokine secretion. To determine whether tumor-cell GR activation modulates the cytokine secretome, we previously showed that GR activation in ovarian cancer cells upregulates secretion of immunomodulatory factors including G-CSF, TGFb and CXCL5. Moreover, co-treatment of cells with a selective GR modulator (SGRM) reverses this effect. Preliminary gene expression data indicate GR mediated cytokine secretion and signaling may involve post-transcriptional or post-translational mechanisms. Considering that elevated levels of these cytokines are necessary for the production and recruitment of MDSCs, these data highlight the relevance of this evident glucocorticoid receptor-cytokine circuit in ovarian cancer cells. Furthermore, we show that this tumor-cell cytokine secretome has the capacity to promote differentiation of MDSCs from precursor myeloid cells in healthy PBMCs. Importantly, measuring expression of activation markers such as Arginase-1 and NOS2 illustrated that these MDSCs are in their functional state. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that a nuclear receptor in ovarian cancer tumor cells is actively driving MDSC differentiation. Finally, employing ovarian cancer xenograft models as well as a syngeneic ID8 tumor model, treatment with SGRMs demonstrated reduced levels of circulating MDSCs in the peripheral blood as well as tumor infiltrated MDSCs. Using neutralizing antibodies for cytokines, we will now identify key mechanisms, specifically, which targetable immunomodulatory factors are contributing to immune suppression. Based on the insight provided by these data, we propose to determine whether targeting ovarian tumor cell-intrinsic GR activation and resulting MDSC infiltration contributes to improved anti-tumor immune response.

Presentation: Thursday, June 15, 2023