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Projekt Druckansicht

Die Bedeutung von IFIT3 für das pro-inflammatorische Milieu in der Pathogenese des Pankreaskarzinoms

Fachliche Zuordnung Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie
Förderung Förderung von 2016 bis 2021
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 316568276
 
Erstellungsjahr 2021

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide, while effective therapies still remain a big challenge. Though IFIT3 is one of the interferon-stimulated genes with antiviral and pro-inflammatory functions, recent studies demonstrated its role in tumor progression and prediction of treatment response. The major findings of this project are the following aspects: 1. The distribution of the IFIT3 expression in PDAC is not homogeneous. 2. Four centers provided two different platforms to analyze the clinical relevance of IFIT3 in PDAC. In patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy we saw a statistically significant better survival in cases with negative or weak expression of IFIT3, low IFIT3 expression was associated with longer DFS in PDAC patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Interestingly, IFIT3 scores of patients developing lung metastases were significantly lower compared to those developing liver metastases. 3. Using PDAC transcriptomic data we determine that IFIT3 expression is associated with a squamous subtype of PDAC and has an enrichment of inflammatory response and apoptosis pathways. 4. We revealed the crucial role of IFIT3 in the regulation of mitochondria-associated apoptosis during chemotherapy. Knockdown of IFIT3 attenuated chemotherapy resistance of PDAC cells to gemcitabine, paclitaxel, and FOLFIRINOX regimen treatments independent of chemotherapy regimens. 5. Co-immunoprecipitation identified the interaction of IFIT3 with the mitochondrial channel protein VDAC2, an important regulator of mitochondria-associated apoptosis. 6. IFIT3 regulated the post-translational modification-O-GlcNAcylation of VDAC2 by stabilizing the interaction of VDAC2 with OGT. We are the first group reporting the biological role of Interferon stimulating gene IFIT3 in PDAC. We have evaluated the clinical relevance of IFIT3 in PDAC associated with therapy response by a multi-center analysis by both tissue microarray and the comprehensive scoring of tumor cell and tumor stroma expression. For the first time, our data demonstrates a new mechanism of IFIT3 interacting with VDAC2 rendering chemotherapy resistance in PDAC. Targeting IFIT3/VDAC2 might be therefore considered as a potential new strategy to sensitize PDAC against conventional chemotherapy regimens. In the future, the role of IFIT3 in the tumor microenvironment and the IFIT3 signaling in immunotherapy crosstalk deserve in-depth exploration.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

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