Abstract
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain cancer; angiogenesis and immunosuppression exacerbate GBM progression. COUP-TFII demonstrates pro-angiogenesis activity; however, its role in glioma progression remains unclear. This study revealed that COUP-TFII promotes angiogenesis in gliomas by inducing transdifferentiation of glioma cells into endothelial-like cells. Mechanistic investigation suggested that COUP-TFII as a transcription factor exerts its function via binding to the promoter of TXNIP. Interestingly, COUP-TFII knockdown attenuated tumorigenesis and tumor progression in an immunocompetent mouse model but promoted tumor progression in an immuno-deficient mouse model. As an explanation, repression of COUP-TFII induces cellular senescence and activates immune surveillance in glioma cells in vitro and in vivo. In addition, we used heparin–polyethyleneimine (HPEI) nanoparticles to deliver COUP-TFII shRNA, which regulated tumor angiogenesis and immunosuppression in an in situ GBM mouse model. This study provides a novel strategy and potential therapeutic targets to treat GBM.
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Data availability
All datasets generated and analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its Supplementary Information files. Additional data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31900441, 82373097, 82172565, and 32100006; to Jing Du, Jiong Deng, and WD), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2023M742089; to FW), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2019MC026, ZR2023QH080, ZR2022QH192, and ZR2023MH033; to Jing Du, FW, WC, and WF), Funds of Shandong Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Development Project (2019-0514; to Jing Du), Qilu Outstanding Young Talents in Health Project (to Jing Du), Double-Hundred Project and Taishan Scholarship (WSR2023085; to CAS and Jing Du), Ministry of Education “Chunhui” Plan International Cooperation Project (HZKY20220459; to Jing Du), Research Foundation of Binzhou Medical University Hospital (2022-01; to FW). We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.cn) for English language editing.
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Jing Du and Jiong Deng conceived the original concept and initiated this project. Jing Du and XW designed the experiment and supervised the entire project. FW, FS, BC, BL, and CL established the tumor-bearing mouse models. FW, SZ, and LL carried out in vitro cell experiments. FW, SZ, WD, and CS performed histologic analysis under the supervision of Jing Du. HD and WC did the CHIP-seq. WF, SZ, and WC helped in data collection. Jing Du, CAS, and XW provided critical feedback and helped in review of the article. FW and Jing Du wrote the paper with input from other authors.
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Wang, F., Zhang, S., Sun, F. et al. Anti-angiogenesis and anti-immunosuppression gene therapy through targeting COUP-TFII in an in situ glioblastoma mouse model. Cancer Gene Ther 31, 1135–1150 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-024-00799-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-024-00799-z