SOX17 enables immune evasion of early colorectal adenomas and cancers

© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited..

A hallmark of cancer is the avoidance of immune destruction. This process has been primarily investigated in locally advanced or metastatic cancer1-3; however, much less is known about how pre-malignant or early invasive tumours evade immune detection. Here, to understand this process in early colorectal cancers (CRCs), we investigated how naive colon cancer organoids that were engineered in vitro to harbour Apc-null, KrasG12D and Trp53-null (AKP) mutations adapted to the in vivo native colonic environment. Comprehensive transcriptomic and chromatin analyses revealed that the endoderm-specifying transcription factor SOX17 became strongly upregulated in vivo. Notably, whereas SOX17 loss did not affect AKP organoid propagation in vitro, its loss markedly reduced the ability of AKP tumours to persist in vivo. The small fraction of SOX17-null tumours that grew displayed notable interferon-γ (IFNγ)-producing effector-like CD8+ T cell infiltrates in contrast to the immune-suppressive microenvironment in wild-type counterparts. Mechanistically, in both endogenous Apc-null pre-malignant adenomas and transplanted organoid-derived AKP CRCs, SOX17 suppresses the ability of tumour cells to sense and respond to IFNγ, preventing anti-tumour T cell responses. Finally, SOX17 engages a fetal intestinal programme that drives differentiation away from LGR5+ tumour cells to produce immune-evasive LGR5- tumour cells with lower expression of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I). We propose that SOX17 is a transcription factor that is engaged during the early steps of colon cancer to orchestrate an immune-evasive programme that permits CRC initiation and progression.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:627

Enthalten in:

Nature - 627(2024), 8004 vom: 29. März, Seite 636-645

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Goto, Norihiro [VerfasserIn]
Westcott, Peter M K [VerfasserIn]
Goto, Saori [VerfasserIn]
Imada, Shinya [VerfasserIn]
Taylor, Martin S [VerfasserIn]
Eng, George [VerfasserIn]
Braverman, Jonathan [VerfasserIn]
Deshpande, Vikram [VerfasserIn]
Jacks, Tyler [VerfasserIn]
Agudo, Judith [VerfasserIn]
Yilmaz, Ömer H [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

82115-62-6
Adenomatous polyposis coli protein, mouse
Chromatin
EC 3.6.5.2
Hras protein, mouse
Interferon-gamma
Journal Article
LGR5 protein, human
SOX17 protein, human
SOXF Transcription Factors
Sox17 protein, mouse
Trp53 protein, mouse

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 22.03.2024

Date Revised 04.04.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1038/s41586-024-07135-3

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM369087968