Carfilzomib modulates tumor microenvironment to potentiate immune checkpoint therapy for cancer

Abstract

Impressive clinical benefit is seen in clinic with PD-1 inhibitors on portion of cancer patients. Yet, there remains an urgent need to develop effective synergizers to expand their clinical application. Tumor-associated macrophage (TAM), a type of M2-polarized macrophage, eliminates or suppresses T-cell-mediated anti-tumor responses. Transforming TAMs into M1 macrophages is an attractive strategy of anti-tumor therapy. Here, we conducted a high-throughput screening and found that Carfilzomib potently drove M2 macrophages to express M1 cytokines, phagocytose tumor cells, and present antigens to T cells. Mechanistically, Carfilzomib elicited unfolded protein response (UPR), activated IRE1α to recruit TRAF2, and activated NF-κB to transcribe genes encoding M1 markers in M2 macrophages. In vivo , Carfilzomib effectively rewired tumor microenvironment through reprogramming TAMs into M1-like macrophages and shrank autochthonous lung cancers in transgenic mouse model. More importantly, Carfilzomib synergized with PD-1 antibody to almost completely regress autochthonous lung cancers. Given the safety profiles of Carfilzomib in clinic, our work suggested a potentially immediate application of combinational treatment with Carfilzomib and PD-1 inhibitors for patients with solid tumors.