Journal
CANCER IMMUNOLOGY IMMUNOTHERAPY
Volume 69, Issue 4, Pages 611-627Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00262-020-02492-0
Keywords
Immunotherapy; Melanoma; C2 ceramide; Tumor microenvironment; PKC zeta; Apoptosis
Categories
Funding
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India [09/015(0475)2015-EMR-1]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Immunotherapy, which has advantages over chemotherapy due to lesser toxicity and higher specificity, is on the rise to treat cancer. Recently, pro-apoptotic glycolipid, ceramide has emerged as a key regulator in cancer immunotherapy. The present study elucidated the potential anti-melanoma efficacy of cell-permeable, exogenous C2 ceramide on cell death and amelioration of tumor microenvironment (TME). We, for the first time, demonstrated that C2 ceramide triggered apoptosis of melanoma cells by augmenting PKC zeta along with pro-inflammatory cytokines and signaling factors. C2 ceramide showed a PKC zeta-mediated tumor-suppressive role in melanoma without exhibiting hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity. Moreover, PKC zeta was revealed as one of the key regulators of Akt and ceramide during C2 ceramide-mediated apoptosis. C2 ceramide was effective in repolarization of M2 macrophage phenotype and reduction of angiogenic factors such as VEGF, VEGFR1, VEGFR2, HIF1 alpha. Interestingly, PKC zeta knockdown attenuated C2 ceramide-mediated inhibition of melanoma progression. Restoration of the Th1 type TME by C2 ceramide enhanced cytotoxic T cell-mediated killing of melanoma cells. Altogether, the study unraveled that C2 ceramide-induced PKC zeta was associated with favorable immune cell functioning in TME leading to melanoma regression. Thus, our findings explored a novel mechanistic insight into C2 ceramide as a promising immunotherapeutic agent in melanoma treatment.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available