Deletion of the mRNA endonuclease Regnase-1 promotes NK cell anti-tumor activity via OCT2-dependent transcription of Ifng

Abstract

Limited infiltration and activity of natural killer (NK) and T cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME) correlate with poor immunotherapy responses. Here, we examined the role of the endonuclease Regnase-1 on NK cell anti-tumor activity. NK cell-specific deletion of Regnase-1 (Reg1^ΔNK) augmented cytolytic activity and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) production in vitro and increased intra-tumoral accumulation of Reg1^ΔNK-NK cells in vivo, reducing tumor growth dependent on IFN-γ. Transcriptional changes in Reg1^ΔNK-NK cells included elevated IFN-γ expression, cytolytic effectors, and the chemokine receptor CXCR6. IFN-γ induced expression of the CXCR6 ligand CXCL16 on myeloid cells, promoting further recruitment of Reg1^ΔNK-NK cells. Mechanistically, Regnase-1 deletion increased its targets, the transcriptional regulators OCT2 and IκBζ, following interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-18 stimulation, and the resulting OCT2-IκBζ-NF-κB complex induced Ifng transcription. Silencing Regnase-1 in human NK cells increased the expression of IFNG and POU2F2. Our findings highlight NK cell dysfunction in the TME and propose that targeting Regnase-1 could augment active NK cell persistence for cancer immunotherapy.

Keywords: CXCR6-CXCL16 axis; IκBζ; NF-κB; NK cells; OCT2; Regnase-1; anti-tumor immunity; transcriptional complex; transcriptional regulation of Ifng; tumor microenvironment.