Apatinib enhanced anti-PD-1 therapy for colon cancer in mice via promoting PD-L1 expression

作者：Xiaomin Cai, Bin Wei, Lele Li, Xiaofeng Chen, Wen Liu, Jian Cui, Yumeng Lin, Yang Sun, Qiang Xu, Wenjie Guo, Yanhong Gu · 发表于：International Immunopharmacology · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.1016/j.intimp.2020.106858 · 被引用次数：52 · 研究领域：Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers、Colorectal Cancer Treatments and Studies、Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment and Prognosis

Increasing studies confirm that anti-angiogenesis can increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy. In this study, we found that an angiogenesis inhibitor apatinib enhanced anti-PD-1 therapy for colon cancer in mice via promoting PD-L1 expression. Apatinib treatment upregulated PD-L1 expression in various colon cancer cells both at the mRNA and protein levels. Further, apatinib-treated cancer cells hampered activation and IFN-γ secretion of T cells in the co-culture system, which was reversed by the anti-PD-1 antibody. Based on this, the combination of apatinib with anti-PD-1 on colon cancer growth in mice was examined. The combination treatment showed more significant inhibition on the growth of transplanted tumors in mice than single-drug treatment. Overall, our study here showed the enhancement of anti-PD-1 antitumor efficacy in a syngeneic mouse model (CT-26 cells in Balb/c) by the angiogenesis inhibitor apatinib via upregulating PD-L1 expression as well as angiogenesis inhibition, which may provide a rationale for the combination of apatinib and anti-PD-1 antibody for colorectal cancer treatment in the clinic.