TREX1 dictates the immune fate of irradiated cancer cells

Claire Vanpouille-Box; Silvia C Formenti; Sandra Demaria

doi:10.1080/2162402X.2017.1339857

TREX1 dictates the immune fate of irradiated cancer cells

Oncoimmunology. 2017 Jun 16;6(9):e1339857. doi: 10.1080/2162402X.2017.1339857. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Claire Vanpouille-Box¹, Silvia C Formenti¹, Sandra Demaria^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
² Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.

Abstract

The optimal radiation dose and fractionation to induce anti-tumor immunity remain elusive. We recently found that the exonuclease TREX1 abrogates the immunogenicity of irradiated cancer cells by degrading interferon-stimulatory cytosolic dsDNA. TREX1 upregulation by radiation dose per fraction beyond a threshold of 10-12 Gy results in poor synergy with immune checkpoint blockers.

Keywords: STING; abscopal effect; cGAS; immune checkpoint blockers; nucleic acids sensing; radiotherapy; type I interferon.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't