TNF plays a dual, still enigmatic role in melanoma, either acting as a cytotoxic cytokine or favoring a tumorigenic inflammatory microenvironment. Herein, the tumor growth of melanoma cell lines expressing major histocompatibility complex class I molecules at high levels (MHC

Survival of melanoma patients after metastases detection remains short. Several clinical trials have shown moderate efficiency in improving patient survival, and the search for pharmacological agents to enhance the immune response and reduce melanoma metastases is still necessary. Statins block the mevalonate pathway, which leads to decreases in GTPase isoprenylation and activity, particularly those of the Ras superfamily. They are widely used as hypocholesterolemic agents in cardiovascular diseases and several studies have shown that they also have protective effects against cancers. Furthermore, we have previously demonstrated that treatment of melanoma cells with inhibitors of the mevalonate pathway, such as statins, favor the development of specific adaptive immune responses against these tumors. In the present study, we tested statin impact on the innate immune response against human metastatic melanoma cells. Our data shows that treatment of two human melanoma cell lines with statins induced a weak but significant increase of MHC class I Chain-related protein A (MICA) membrane expression. Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma is involved in this statin-induced MICA overexpression, which is independent of Ras and Rho GTPase signaling pathways. Interestingly, this MICA overexpression makes melanoma cells more sensitive to in vitro lysis by NK cells. The impact of statin treatment on in vivo development of melanoma tumors and metastases was investigated in nude mice, because murine NK cells, which express NKG2D receptors, are able to recognize and kill human tumor cells expressing MICA. The results demonstrated that both local tumor growth and pulmonary metastases were strongly inhibited in nude mice injected with statin-treated melanoma cells. These results suggest that statins could be effective in melanoma immunotherapy treatments.

Defective antitumor immune responses are frequent consequences of defects in the expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and costimulatory molecules. We demonstrated that statins, inhibitors of HMGCoA reductase, enhance mIFN-gamma induced expression of MHC class I antigens on murine B16F10 melanoma. GGTI-298, a geranylgeranyl transferase I inhibitor, but not FTI-277, a farnesyl transferase inhibitor, mimics this effect of statins. This effect is related to peptide transporter protein TAP1 up-regulation. Simultaneously, GGTI-298 induces the expression of CD80 and CD86 costimulatory molecules. C3 exoenzyme, which selectively inactivates Rho proteins, phenocopies the effects of GGTI-298, indicating a role for Rho proteins in these events. Furthermore, the treatment of B16F10 cells with GGTI-298 or C3 exoenzyme associated with mIFN-gamma induces in vivo tumor growth slowing down in immunocompetent but not in nu/nu syngeneic mice. Both in vivo injections and in vitro restimulation of splenocytes with GGTI-298- and mIFN-gamma-treated B16F10 cells induces an enhancement of specific CD8 T lymphocytes labeled by TRP-2/H-2K(b) tetramers. Finally, these effects are not limited to mouse models since they were also reproduced in two human melanoma cell lines. These observations indicate that protein geranylgeranylation as well as Rho protein are critical for costimulatory and IFN-gamma-dependent MHC class I molecule expression in melanoma.

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