Abstract 1594: Pancreatic cancer and T-cell crosstalk-induced MUC4 expression attenuates T-cell-mediated response
Authors: Li Xiaoqi , Khan Imran , Kehrberg Rachel , Alsafwani Zahraa Wajih , Bhatia Rakesh , Kumar Sushil , Batra Surinder K. 
Published: March 2024

Background: While T-cell-based immunotherapy emerged as a promising tool for cancer management, clinical trials and translational studies revealed that cancer cells develop resistance by modulating tumor microenvironment and cell-intrinsic mechanisms. Pancreatic cancer (PC), consisting of dense stroma, immunosuppressive environment, and aberrant mucin expression, has a dismal survival rate and responds poorly to immunotherapies. MUC4, a member of the mucin family, has been reported to block lymphokine-activated killer cells and induce apoptosis of cytotoxic T-cells, suggesting its possible role in immune modulation. However, how the T-cell secretome influences MUC4 expression in PC and its role in modulating the T-cell response is poorly investigated.

Method: The scRNA-seq data analysis and primary T-cell conditioned media (CM) were utilized to investigate the MUC4 and T-cell crosstalk. T-cell CM-treated murine PC cell line (KCT-3266) was analyzed by RNA-seq analysis followed by MUC4 silencing studies to investigate its role in evading T-cell response. The subcutaneous murine model was utilized to investigate the influence of MUC4 KO on immune cells and cytotoxic cell infiltration. The RNA isolated from tumor tissues from KrasG12D/+, Trp53R127H/+, Pdx-1-Cre (KPC), and Muc4 knockout (KPMC) murine models were used for PanCancer immune profiling.

Results: The scRNA-seq analysis suggests that intratumoral T-cells positively correlate with MUC4 expression in PC patients. The activated T-cell CM consisting of predominantly IL-2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α cytokines, significantly induce the expression of MUC4 transcriptionally and translationally in both human (SW1990 and COLO357) and murine (KCT-3248 and KCT3266) PC cell lines. RNA-seq analysis from T-cell CM-treated cancer cells revealed that T-cell secretome induced the pathways related to cancer cell death. The CRISPR knockout of MUC4 in PC cells showed increased expression of cleaved caspase-3 after T-cell CM treatment, indicating that MUC4 plays a protective role against the T-cell CM-mediated killing. Subcutaneous implantation of MUC4 proficient and deficient PC cells on the flanks of C57BL/6 immunocompetent mice demonstrated a significantly higher infiltration of CD3 positive and cytotoxic T-cell infiltration in the MUC4 deficient tumors, resulting in significantly lower tumor weight. The PanCancer immune profiling also showed that depletion of Muc4 increases the T-cells and cytotoxic T-cell signaling scores in the KPMC tumor tissues compared to KPC.

Conclusion: T-cell secretome induces MUC4 expression in pancreatic cancer cells, and the increased MUC4 expression reduces T-cell infiltration and protects PC cells against T-cell-mediated killing.

Citation Format: Xiaoqi Li, Imran Khan, Rachel Kehrberg, Zahraa Wajih Alsafwani, Rakesh Bhatia, Sushil Kumar, Surinder K. Batra. Pancreatic cancer and T-cell crosstalk-induced MUC4 expression attenuates T-cell-mediated response [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 1594.