The prognosis for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains poor despite decades of effort. The abundant extracellular matrix (ECM) in PDAC comprises a major fraction of the tumor mass and plays various roles in promoting resistance to therapies. However, nonselective depletion of ECM has led to poor patient outcomes. Consistent with that observation, we previously showed that individual matrisome proteins derived from stromal cells correlate with either long or short patient survival. In marked contrast, those derived from cancer cells correlate strongly with poor survival. Here, we studied three cancer cell-derived matrisome proteins that are significantly overrepresented during PDAC progression, AGRN (agrin), SER-PINB5 (serine protease inhibitor B5), and CSTB (cystatin B). Using both overexpression and knockdown experiments, we demonstrate that all three are promoters of PDAC metastasis. Furthermore, these proteins operate at different metastatic steps. AGRN promoted epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in primary tumors, whereas SERPINB5 and CSTB enhanced late steps in the metastatic cascade by elevating invadopodia formation and in vivo extravasation. All three genes were associated with a poor prognosis in human patients and high levels of SERPINB5, secreted by cancer cells and deposited in the ECM, correlated with poor patient prognosis. This study provides strong evidence that cancer cell-derived matrisome proteins can be causal in promoting tumorigenesis and metastasis and lead to poor patient survival. Therefore, compared with the bulk matrix, mostly made by stromal cells, precise interventions targeting cancer cell-derived matrisome proteins, such as AGRN, SERPINB5, and CSTB, may represent preferred potential therapeutic targets.Significance: This study provides insights into the biological roles of cancer cell-derived matrisome proteins in PDAC and supports the notion that these proteins are protumorigenic and better therapeutic targets.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by rich deposits of extracellular matrix (ECM), affecting the pathophysiology of the disease. Here, we identified galectin 4 (gal 4) as a cancer cell-produced protein that was deposited into the ECM of PDAC tumors and detected high circulating levels of gal 4 in PDAC patients. In orthotopic transplantation experiments, we observed increased infiltration of T cells and prolonged survival in immunocompetent mice transplanted with cancer cells with reduced expression of gal 4. Increased survival was not observed in immunodeficient RAG1-/- mice, demonstrating that the effect was mediated by the adaptive immune system. By performing single-cell RNA-sequencing, we found that the myeloid compartment and cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) subtypes were altered in the transplanted tumors. Reduced gal 4 expression associated with a higher proportion of myofibroblastic CAFs and reduced numbers of inflammatory CAFs. We also found higher proportions of M1 macrophages, T cells, and antigen-presenting dendritic cells in tumors with reduced gal 4 expression. Using a co-culture system, we observed that extracellular gal 4 induced apoptosis in T cells by binding N-glycosylation residues on CD3ε/δ. Hence, we show that gal 4 is involved in immune evasion and identify gal 4 as a promising drug target for overcoming immunosuppression in PDAC.

A majority of lymphomas are derived from B cells and novel treatments are required to treat refractory disease. Neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine influence activation of B cells and the effects of a selective serotonin 1A receptor (5HT1A) antagonist on growth of a number of B cell-derived lymphoma cell lines were investigated. We confirmed the expression of 5HT1A in human lymphoma tissue and in several well-defined experimental cell lines. We discovered that the pharmacological inhibition of 5HT1A led to the reduced proliferation of B cell-derived lymphoma cell lines together with DNA damage, ROS-independent caspase activation and apoptosis in a large fraction of cells. Residual live cells were found ‘locked’ in a non-proliferative state in which a selective transcriptional and translational shutdown of genes important for cell proliferation and metabolism occurred (e.g., AKT, GSK-3β, cMYC and p53). Strikingly, inhibition of 5HT1A regulated mitochondrial activity through a rapid reduction of mitochondrial membrane potential and reducing dehydrogenase activity. Collectively, our data suggest 5HT1A antagonism as a novel adjuvant to established cancer treatment regimens to further inhibit lymphoma growth.

<p>Top 30 markers of clusters in Immune subset of single cell data</p>

<p>Lists of genes used to calculate signature scores for cytolytic activity, T cell activation and M1 vs M2 macrophage polarization in single cell data analysis</p>