The recruitment of cd8+ t cells through ybx1 stabilization abrogates tumor intrinsic oncogenic role of mir155hg in lung adenocarcinoma

ABSTRACT Previous studies revealed that MIR155HG possessed an oncogenic role in many types of tumors including lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), along with higher expression in tumors. However, in

our study, we observed a positive correlation between MIR155HG expression and overall survival across different cohorts. The transferred PBMC on the NCG mouse model abrogated the tumor

intrinsic oncogenic role of MIR155HG in LUAD. Upregulation of MIR155HG positively correlated with CD8+ T cell infiltration both in vitro and in vivo, as well as LUAD tissues.

Mechanistically, we revealed that MIR155HG increased the cytokine CCL5 expression at the transcriptional level, which depended on the interaction between MIR155HG and YBX1 protein, a novel

transcription factor of CCL5, resulting in the more protein stability of YBX1 through dampening ubiquitination. Additionally, we also observed that MIR155 could increase PD-L1 expression to

hamper the activity of recruited CD8+ T cells, which could be rescued through PD-L1 mAb addition. Finally, we uncovered that patients with high MIR155HG expression had a higher response rate

to immunotherapy, and the combination of MIR155HG overexpression and PD-L1 mAb increased the efficacy of PD-L1 mAb. Together, our study provides a novel biomarker and potential combination

treatment strategy for patients who received immunotherapy. SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS PDL1 TARGETING BY MIR-138-5P AMPLIFIES ANTI-TUMOR IMMUNITY AND JURKAT CELLS SURVIVAL IN

NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER Article Open access 12 June 2024 CIRC_0004140 PROMOTES LUAD TUMOR PROGRESSION AND IMMUNE RESISTANCE THROUGH CIRC_0004140/MIR-1184/CCL22 AXIS Article Open access 08

April 2022 MAZ PROMOTES TUMOR PROLIFERATION AND IMMUNE EVASION IN LUNG ADENOCARCINOMA Article 18 October 2024 INTRODUCTION In recent years, immunotherapy, particularly, PD-1/PD-L1 immune

checkpoint inhibitors providing a means of utilizing a patient’s own immune system to exterminate cancer cells, has demonstrated substantial benefits for many patients with advanced cancer

types. Specifically, PD-1 inhibitor immunotherapy has notably improved a 5-year survival rate in advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) instances from a dismal rate of less than 5% to

approximately 16% [1]. However, the response rate to PD-1 or PD-L1 mAb therapy remains below 40% in most cases [2]. PD-L1 TPS has been widely used to predict the efficacy of immunotherapy in

patients with lung adenocarcinoma, but its predictive value for immunotherapy is still insufficient [3]. Therefore, it is urgently needed to identify biomarkers that can predict the

efficacy of immunotherapy or to explore alternative treatments such as combination therapy [4]. With the advancement of immunotherapy research, the critical role of the immune

microenvironment in immunotherapy has become increasingly recognized [5, 6]. The nature of interactions between tumor cells and immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) dictates the

antitumor response [7, 8]. Moreover, immune infiltration in the TME has been established as a crucial factor in tumor development and bears significant implications for the clinical outcomes

of cancer patients [9, 10]. As a result, immunotherapies mediated by the regulatory mechanisms of the tumor immune microenvironment offer substantial development prospects. Therefore,

understanding the mechanism of regulating immune infiltration within the TME is essential to enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy and devise new strategies for cancer immunotherapy.

The MIR155 host gene (MIR155HG), a novel member of the lncRNA family, is classified as the primary-miRNA (primiRNA) of miR-155. It has been suggested to have an oncogenic role in various

cancers [11,12,13]. Meanwhile, MIR155HG reportedly encodes a 17-amino acid micropeptide that contributes to DC-driven autoinflammation [14]. With the development of research, Peng and

colleagues reports that high expression of MIR155HG was closely related with immune checkpoint molecules expression [15]. For all this, the specific mechanism of MIR155HG in the immune

microenvironment of lung adenocarcinoma and its relationship with immunotherapy remain to be clarified. Here, we observed that MIR155HG is associated with a favorable prognosis in LUAD

patients and the existence of immune system abrogates tumor intrinsic oncogenic role of MIR155HG in lung adenocarcinoma by using PBMC-transferred NCG mice. Furtherly, we revealed that the

interaction between MIR155HG and YBX1 resulted in upregulation of CCL5 expression to recruit more CD8+ T cells in tumor environment. Besides, we investigated the potential of MIR155HG as a

biomarker of immunotherapy efficacy prediction in LUAD patients and explored its combination with PD-L1 mAb treatment in mouse models to enhance immunotherapy efficacy, which provides a new

strategy and therapeutic opportunity for LUAD patients received immunotherapy. RESULTS EXISTENCE OF IMMUNE ENVIRONMENT ABROGATES TUMOR INTRINSIC ONCOGENIC ROLE OF MIR155HG IN LUNG

ADENOCARCINOMA Previous studies have reported that MIR155HG promoted carcinogenesis and disease progression of various solid tumors [11,12,13]. We initially investigated TCGA datasets of

lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and GEO dataset (GSE40791), which revealed that MIR155HG expression in LUAD was markedly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues (Figs. 1A and S1A), which was

confirmed in a small LUAD cohort with 30 paired samples (Fig. 1B). We also explored the relation between MIR155HG expression and overall survival (OS) across the different cohorts. A

positive relationship between MIR155HG expression levels and the survival rates was observed (Fig. 1C), which was also supported in the Kaplan–Meier (KM) plotter (Fig. 1D). To further

interrogate the relationship between MIR155HG levels and the prognosis of LUAD patients, we established a MIR155HG-related gene signature based on the top 100 genes (Table S2) of correlation

with MIR155HG in the TCGA-LUAD. Patients in the multiple lung adenocarcinoma cohorts were divided into two groups according to the MIR155HG-related gene signature, and OS was significantly

higher in the high MIR155HG-related gene signature groups than in the low groups for many cohorts (Fig. S1B). To identify the gene signatures and pathways associated with MIR155HG

expression, we used Gene Ontology Enrichment Analysis (GO) on MIR155HG-related gene signature, which showed a significant enrichment in immune-related signaling including regulation of T

cell activation (Fig. 1E). We speculated that the controversial behavior of MIR155HG between the tumor intrinsic oncogenic role and favorable prognosis factor could be related to the immune

environment. In order to understand the role of the immune system affecting the performance of MIR155HG, we inoculated MIR155HG overexpression, knockdown, or control cells in either

immunodeficient or PBMC-transferred immunodeficient NCG mice [16] (Fig. 1F). The efficiency of constructed sh-MIR155HG and overexpression plasmids were confirmed in vitro, respectively (Fig.

S1C, D). We observed significant changes in tumor growth in immunodeficient mice between MIR155HG overexpression and the control group or MIR155HG knockdown and the control (Figs. 1G, H and

S1E), which supported the tumor intrinsic oncogenic role of MIR155HG. Meanwhile, no significant changes in tumor growth in PBMC-transferred NCG mice were observed perturbing the MIR155HG

expression (Figs. 1I, J and S1F). Taken together, these results indicate that the existence of immune system abrogates tumor intrinsic oncogenic role of MIR155HG in lung adenocarcinoma.

MIR155HG IS POSITIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH CD8+ T CELLS INFILTRATING To further elucidate the relationship between MIR155HG expression and tumor immune profiles, we applied the convolutional

neural network–based atlas developed by The Cancer Image Archive (TCIA) [17], which found that the estimated proportion of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was positively associated

with MIR155HG levels in human LUAD (Fig. 2A–C). Next, we used the CIBERSORTx algorithm, which deconvolved the genomic data to estimate the fraction of immune cells in tumor tissues, and we

generated correlations between MIR155HG expression and the proportion of the immune cell population. The results showed that MIR155HG expression levels in tumors were positively correlated

with multiple antitumoral immune cell types, including CD8+ T cells, B cells and dendritic cells (Fig. 2D). To systematically depict the TME between MIR155HG and LUAD, we evaluate the

association between MIR155HG expression level and major immune cell subtypes by various algorithms, including Mcp-counter, Quantiseq, Timer and Xcell. The correlation between MIR155HG

expression levels and CD8+ T cells remained statistically significant across all algorithms used (Fig. S2A). Furtherly, we applied immunofluorescence to analyze the expression of MIR155HG

and CD8+ T cell infiltration in 94 LUAD patient tissue microarrays and found that MIR155HG was positively correlated with CD8+ T cell infiltration (Fig. 2E). Using immunohistochemistry, we

found that infiltrated CD8+ T cells were reduced in the sh-MIR155HG group and increased in the overexpression group (Fig. 2F), respectively. Together, it can be inferred that elevated

MIR155HG expression is positively related to increased CD8+ T cells infiltration in lung adenocarcinoma. To further verify whether MIR155HG could recruit CD8+ T cells, we employed an in

vitro T cell migration assay, co-culturing activated PBMC from healthy donors with human A549 cell lines (Fig. 2G). The results showed that the sh-MIR155HG group recruited fewer CD8+ T cells

than the sh-NC group, while the overexpression group recruited more (Fig. 2H). Collectively, these results indicate that MIR155HG promotes the recruitment of CD8+ T cells both in vivo and

in vitro. MIR155HG REGULATES CCL5 EXPRESSION IN LUAD To elucidate the potential molecular mechanisms of MIR155HG-regulated recruitment of CD8+ T cells in LUAD, we measured gene expression

profiling in MIR155HG-overexpressed A549 cells and the control (Fig. 3A). Hierarchical clustering revealed significantly altered expressions of 67 genes (fold change >1.50) in

MIR155HG-overexpressed A549 cells compared with the control cells (Fig. 3B and Table S3). To identify the gene pathways associated with MIR155HG expression, we used gene set enrichment

analysis (GSEA) and found that cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction was significantly enriched in MIR155HG-overxpressed A549 cells compared to the control (Fig. 3C). Several chemokines

previously reported to be associated with the recruitment of CD8+ T cells [18, 19] were overlapped with significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) mentioned above resulting in 10

candidate genes, among which only CCL5 expression increased corresponding to MIR155HG overexpression (Fig. 3D). The variant mRNA and protein levels of CCL5 were detected through qRT-PCR and

ELISA assays, respectively, which revealed the similar trends among CCL5 and MIR155HG (Fig. 3E, F). Subsequently, we conducted a T cell migration assay to further determine the function of

CCL5, which uncovered that knockdown of CCL5 mitigated the recruitment effect of MIR155HG on CD8+ T cells (Fig. 3G). We also performed a T cell migration assay to determine whether the

recruitment effect of MIR155HG depends on miR-155 for that previous studies have reported that MIR155HG relies on miR-155 for its biological functions [20]. The results of our study showed

that the miR-155 inhibitor had no effect on the recruitment effect of MIR155HG on CD8+ T cells (Fig. S2B, C). These data suggest that MIR155HG promotes the recruitment of CD8+ T cells

through the regulation of chemokine CCL5. MIR155HG INTERACTS WITH YBX1 PROTEIN TO INCREASE THE PROTEIN STABILITY To characterize the molecular mechanism of MIR155HG in LUAD, we first

determined the subcellular location of MIR155HG detected by nucleocytoplasmic separation and RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assays. The results confirmed that MIR155HG was

mainly located in the cytoplasm (Fig. S3A, B). LncRNA localization in the cytoplasm can enable interactions with different functional protein partners and targets of action [21]. To further

identify targets directly regulated by MIR155HG, we performed an RNA pull-down assay to isolate proteins that specifically bind to MIR155HG (Fig. 4A). The retrieved proteins were subjected

to SDS-PAGE electrophoresis analysis, and several additional differential bands were selected for a mass spectrum analysis. Based on the functional annotation of the proteins detected by

mass spectrometry, we identified YBX1 as a putative MIR155HG-associated protein among the highly abundant proteins (Fig. S3C). Western blotting further confirmed the binding of MIR155HG to

YBX1 using the retrieved proteins in the RNA pull-down assay (Fig. 4B). RIP assays performed with an anti-YBX1 antibody also demonstrated the interaction between YBX1 and MIR155HG (Fig. 4C).

To identify which region of MIR155HG binds to YBX1, we constructed a series of MIR155HG truncation based on the predicted secondary structure of MIR155HG in the RNAfold database

(http://rna.tbi.univie.ac.at//cgi-bin/RNAWebSuite/RNAfold.cgi) (Fig. 4D) RNA fragments were transcribed in vitro from these truncation constructs and employed in RNA pull-down assays. We

performed immunoblotting analysis of YBX1 in protein samples isolated by these different MIR155HG constructs, and found that the RNA fragments with the 0–100 truncation nearly completely

lost their ability to bind YBX1, indicating that this region is essential for MIR155HG to bind to YBX1 (Fig. 4D). This result was consistent with predicted potential YBX1-binding region of

MIR155HG (0–100) using the catRAPID omics tool (http://s.tartaglialab.com/page/catrapid_omics_group) (Fig. S3D). Additionally, to investigate which domain of YBX1 is involved in its

interaction with MIR155HG, we constructed a series of Flag-tagged YBX1 truncation plasmids according to the protein structure of YBX1 [22] and verified the truncation with WB (Fig. 4E left).

Then we conducted RIP assays to indicate that the C-terminal region (129–324) of YBX1 is essential for its binding to MIR155HG (Fig. 4E right). We also measured the transcriptional and

translational levels of YBX1 in MIR155HG-knockdown or MIR155HG-overexpressing lung cancer cells, and no significant changes in the mRNA levels of YBX1 were observed when compared to the

corresponding controls (Fig. S3E), while the protein levels of YBX1 were significantly decreased in MIR155HG-knockdown cells and increased in MIR155HG-overexpressing cells (Figs. 4F and

S3F). It suggested that MIR155HG can increase the levels of YBX1 protein at the post-transcriptional level. To further validate this observation, we used the protein synthesis inhibitor

cycloheximide (CHX) to evaluate the effect of MIR155HG on the degradation of YBX1. MIR155HG overexpression in A549 cells extended the half-life of YBX1 (Fig. 4G). Moreover, we observed that

inhibiting proteasome activity prevented sh-MIR155HG–induced endogenous YBX1 downregulation in A549 cells (Fig. 4H), suggesting that YBX1 degradation via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway

could be inhibited by MIR155HG. To confirm these data, we evaluated the effect of MIR155HG on YBX1 ubiquitination in lung cancer cells (Fig. 4I), which showed that MIR155HG expression could

increase the stability of YBX1 via reducing its ubiquitous modification. Together, these results demonstrate that MIR155HG increases the protein stability of YBX1 by dampening its ubiquitin.

MIR155HG PROMOTES CCL5 TRANSCRIPTION THROUGH YBX1 IN LUAD YBX1, as a transcription factor, plays an important role in regulating genes in cancer [23, 24]. Therefore, we investigated whether

YBX1 could regulate CCL5 transcription. YBX1 binds to the Y-box sequence (ATTGG) in the promoter of target genes [25]. We searched the proximal promoter region of human CCL5 (−1 to −2 kb

upstream of the transcription start site (TSS)) and found two potential Y-box sequence (Fig. 5A). To confirm its relevance, we performed ChIP assays in A549 cells. As shown in Fig. 5B, YBX1

bound to the region of the CCL5 promoter containing the Y-box (C1). To verify the ChIP-PCR assay results, we constructed wildtype, mutation and deletion luciferase plasmids according to the

C1 region respectively (Fig. 5C left and Fig. S3G) and then transfected these plasmids along with YBX1 siRNA in A549 cells, which showed that luciferase activity was reduced in the

luciferase plasmid containing the Y-box sequence with knockdown of YBX1. However, knockdown of YBX1 had no effect on luciferase activity in luciferase plasmid lacked the Y-box or contained a

Y-box mutation (Fig. 5C right). Additional, knockdown of YBX1 reversed the mRNA and secretion levels of CCL5 upregulated by MIR155HG in A549 cells (Fig. 5D, E). Finally, we conducted a T

cell migration assay to further determine the dependency of YBX1 and found that knockdown of YBX1 reversed the recruitment effect of MIR155HG on CD8+ T cells (Fig. 5F). MIR155HG UPREGULATES

PD-L1 TRANSCRIPTION TO HAMPER THE ACTIVITY OF RECRUITED CD8+ T CELLS In our study, MIR155HG was found to promote the recruitment of CD8+ T cells. To further test its role in regulating

antitumor T cell immunity, we performed T cell-mediated killing assay in vitro by employing a co-culture system in which activated PBMC from healthy donors were co-cultured with human A549

cell lines. A549 cells with MIR155HG knockdown was more vulnerable against T cell killing (Fig. 6A). The number of apoptotic cells was higher in MIR155HG-knockdown cells co-cultured with

PBMCs compared to those co-cultured with control A549 cells, suggesting that the suppressive function of tumor cells on T cells was attenuated by MIR155HG knockdown (Fig. 6B, C). In

addition, the mRNA levels of PRF1 (Perforin 1), GZMB (Granzyme B), GNLY (Granulysin), IFNG (Interferon gamma) in PBMCs were increased upon co-culturing with MIR155HG knockdown, and decreased

upon co-culturing with MIR155HG overexpression (Fig. 6D, E). Flow cytometry analyses showed increased IFN-gamma and Interleukin 2 (IL-2) levels in CD8+ T cells co-cultured with MIR155HG

knockdown compared to corresponding control cells (Fig. 6F, G). Taken together, these data suggested that the overexpression of MIR155HG in tumor cells suppresses T cell-mediated antitumor

activity. Our exploration of TCGA-LUAD data and PBMC from patients also suggested a relationship between MIR155HG expression and immune checkpoints, such as PD-L1 and PD-1 (Fig. S4A–C).

PD-L1 on tumor cells binds to PD-1 on activating T cells, leading to the exhaustion and apoptosis of T cells subsequently, which has been identified as a key process in tumor cell-mediated

immune escape [26]. As PD-L1 was significantly different in the previous RNA-seq results (Fig. 3A, B), we explored the association between PD-L1 and MIR155HG by qRT-PCR and Western Blot

assays. While MIR155HG was knockdown or overexpressed, we found that mRNA and protein levels of PD-L1 were obviously increased after overexpression of MIR155HG, while knockdown of MIR155HG

had the opposite result (Figs. 6H–K and S4D). This result was further validated by flow cytometry analysis (Fig. 6L). Meanwhile, we observed that anti-PD-L1 mAb could reverse the expression

of TOX of T cell, a maker of T cell exhaustion, resulting from overexpression of MIR155HG (Fig. S4E). Previous study shows that YBX1 transcriptionally regulates PD-L1 expression in

doxorubicin-resistant HepG2 cells [27] Therefore, we searched the proximal promoter region of human PD-L1 (−1 to −1.5 kb upstream of the transcription start site (TSS)) and found a Y-box

sequence (Fig. S4F). To validate its relevance in lung tumor cells, we performed ChIP assays using A549 cells. As shown in Fig. S4G, YBX1 bound to the region of the PD-L1 promoter containing

the Y-box (P6). To confirm the ChIP-PCR assay results, we constructed wildtype, mutation and deletion luciferase plasmids according to the P6 region (Fig. S4H left) and then transfected

these plasmids along with YBX1 siRNA in A549 cells. The results shown that luciferase activity was reduced in the luciferase plasmid containing the Y-box sequence with knockdown of YBX1.

However, knockdown of YBX1 had no effect on luciferase activity in luciferase plasmid lacked the Y-box or contained a Y-box mutation (Fig. S4H right). Collectively, these results indicate

that MIR155HG suppresses antitumor T cell immunity by promoting PD-L1 transcription through YBX1. MIR155HG CORRELATES WITH THE EFFICACY OF PD-L1 MAB THERAPY IN LUAD PATIENTS AND IMPROVES

ANTITUMOR EFFECT OF PD-L1 BLOCKADE IN VIVO We first explored the TCGA-LUAD dataset and found that MIR155HG was positively correlated with PD-L1 and CCL5 expression respectively (Fig. 7A).

Meanwhile, to establish the correlation between MIR155HG, PD-L1 and CCL5 in LUAD patients, we applied immunofluorescence to analyze the expression of MIR155HG, PD-L1 and CCL5 in 94 LUAD

patients tissue microarrays (Fig. 7B), which also revealed that MIR155HG expression is positively associated with PD-L1 and CCL5 expression in LUAD microarray (Fig. 7C). The Immunophenotypic

Score (IPS) is a score that integrates the scores for four distinct immune phenotypes (antigen-presenting cells, effector cells, suppressive cells, and checkpoints) using a computational

method to derive an aggregate immune-related score (Fig. S5A). Higher IPS scores have been associated with a more favorable response to immunotherapy [28]. We found that patients with higher

MIR155HG expression had correspondingly higher immunophenotypic scores (Fig. S5B), suggesting a potentially effective response to immunotherapy. Furtherly, survival analysis was performed

in the lung adenocarcinoma patients involved in the published available datasets (GSE136991 and GSE135222) containing immunotherapy responses based on the established MIR155HG-related gene

signature. The results showed that MIR155HG-related gene signature was positively associated with the longer survival (Fig. 7D). Meanwhile, our results showed that patients with

immunotherapy response had a higher expression of MIR155HG than those patients with non-response in the LUAD cohort GSE135222(Fig. 7E), suggesting a potentially biomarker for predicting the

efficacy of immunotherapy. To investigate whether overexpression of MIR155HG enhanced the therapeutic effect of PD-L1 mAb treatment, we utilized anti-human PD-L1 mAb to treat

PBMC-transferred immunodeficient NCG mice inoculated subcutaneous xenograft with A549-vector/MIR155HG or A549-sh-NC/sh-MIR155HG lung cancer cells (Fig. 7F). We observed that the sh-MIR155HG

group increased the tumor volume compared with the sh-NC group (Fig. S5C, D). However, PD-L1 mAb treatment significantly decreased the tumor volume of MIR155HG overexpression group compared

with the control (Figs. 7G and S5E). Together, these results suggested that MIR155HG can serve as a biomarker for predicting the efficacy of immunotherapy in LUAD and have a synergistic

effect with PD-L1 mAb treatment in preclinical animal studies. DISCUSSION Our study revealed that MIR155HG abrogates its intrinsic oncogenic role by inducing tumor CCL5 secretion dependent

on YBX1, thus promoting the recruitment of CD8+ T cells. In addition, the combination of MIR155HG overexpression and PD-L1 mAb can increase the efficacy of PD-L1 mAb validated by mouse

models. Therefore, we have unraveled the molecular mechanism of MIR155HG regulation in tumors and discovered a biomarker of immunotherapy efficacy in lung adenocarcinoma and a combination

treatment strategy (Fig. 7H). MIR155HG acts as an oncogene that propels malignant progression in various cancers [29]. Supporting previous studies, our work revealed that MIR155HG indeed

fosters malignant progression in balb/c nude mice. However, a positive correlation between MIR155HG and overall survival in TCGA and multiple LUAD cohorts was noted. Recently, there has been

growing interest in the influence of genes on the immune microenvironment [30], and several studies have highlighted the differential roles genes play in immune-complete and

immune-deficient environments [31, 32]. To delve deeper into the role of MIR155HG, we examined its functionality in subcutaneous tumor-bearing PBMC-transferred NCG mice. Unexpectedly,

MIR155HG no longer presented its cancer-promoting abilities in these mice, suggesting that the immune microenvironment restricts its oncogenic function. This finding implied a potential role

for MIR155HG in modulating the microenvironment, challenging existing perceptions and prompting us to select MIR155HG for further investigation. MIR155HG, classified as the primiRNA of

miR-155, is reported to be associated with immune infiltration and prognosis of breast cancer [33]. Subsequent experiments revealed that after MIR155HG overexpression, inhibiting miR-155 did

not affect its capacity to recruit CD8+ T cells, which revealed that MIR155HG’s function of our study is independent of miR-155, motivating the continued exploration of MIR155HG’s molecular

mechanisms. CD8+ T cells, as a key immune cell population, play a significant role in the immune microenvironment [34]. A correlation has been established by various studies between the

degree of CD8+ T cell infiltration within the immune microenvironment and the predicted efficacy of immunotherapy [35, 36]. T cells can also be summoned by a wide array of cytokines. In our

research, we discovered that MIR155HG can recruit more CD8+ T cells by CCL5, both in vivo and in vitro, through immunohistochemistry and T cell recruitment assay, thereby mitigating its own

cancer-promoting effects. Interestingly, while the recruitment of additional CD8+ T cells was noted, the cytolytic activity of these cells was decreased, ostensibly due to elevated PD-L1

expression. We hypothesized that this could be an inherent cellular mechanism to curb an excessive immune response through the upregulation of PD-L1, thereby maintaining immune homeostasis

[37]. In a mouse model augmented with PD-L1 monoclonal antibodies, it was evident that tumors in the MIR155HG knockdown group proliferated, while those in the MIR155HG-overexpressing group,

treated with PD-L1 mAb, significantly regressed. This emphasizes that MIR155HG had a profound impact on CD8+ T cell recruitment, rather than merely promoting PD-L1, that led to functional

compromise of T cells. We were also able to demonstrate that the depletion of MIR155HG on T cells could be counteracted with PD-L1 monoclonal antibodies. Previous studies have reported that

lncRNA localization in the cytoplasm can enable interactions with different functional protein partners and targets of action [21]. In this study, we observed that MIR155HG is primarily

located in the cytoplasm, which interacts with the YBX1 protein. Our results showed that MIR155HG binds to YBX1 in the cytoplasm, thereby increasing the protein stability of YBX1 and

promoting CCL5 transcription. Knockdown of YBX1 reduces the CCL5 expression and thus decreases the recruitment of CD8+ T cells, all of which indicate that YBX1 plays a crucial role in

mediating the interaction of MIR155HG with CD8+ T cells. Additional research is required to identify the specific components implicated in the ubiquitination of YBX1. In LUAD patient tumor

samples, we confirmed a positive correlation between MIR155HG, CCL5, CD8, and PD-L1 expression. Additionally, we found that MIR155HG is associated with IPS in the TCGA database. By assessing

the clinical significance of MIR155HG in PD-L1 mAb-treated LUAD patients, we found that high MIR155HG expression indicated a better therapeutic outcome and longer OS times of LUAD patients

treated with PD-L1 mAb in two cohorts, further indicating its potential as a biomarker for predicting immunotherapy efficacy. The use of a larger cohort of immunotherapy patients with lung

adenocarcinoma could further clarify the reliability of the biomarker. Furthermore, in our preclinical animal studies, we found a synergistic effect of MIR155HG overexpression with PD-L1

monoclonal therapy with a significant reduction in tumor volume and extended survival time compared to the control group. Thus, our findings suggest the feasibility of a combination

treatment strategy for lung cancer patients. Unfortunately, due to the non-conserved form of MIR155HG, we can only perform this step in the mouse model of PBMC-transferred NCG mouse,

suggesting the limitation of our models. The future application of single-cell sequencing technology and humanized mice will enable us to further clarify the role of MIR155HG in the immune

microenvironment. In summary, our study revealed that genes may assume varied roles in immunocomplete and immunodeficient environments. MIR155HG affects the expression of downstream genes

CCL5 and PD-L1 by elevating the protein stability of YBX1 and reducing its ubiquitination. MIR155HG serves as a biomarker for predicting the efficacy of immunotherapy in LUAD and it also

exhibits a synergistic effect with PD-L1 mAb treatment in preclinical animal studies. Therefore, it is worthwhile to develop further research and clinical translation of MIR155HG. MATERIALS

AND METHODS CELL LINES AND CELL CULTURE LUAD cell lines (A549 and PC9) were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). A549 cells were cultured in RPMI-1640(KeyGen, China)

supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Life Technologies) while PC9 cells were maintained in DMEM (KeyGen, China). Cycloheximide (CHX, protein synthesis inhibitor) (Selleck, USA) and

MG132 (proteasome inhibitor) (Selleck, USA) were used at a final concentration of 10 μg/ml and 50 μM, respectively. All cell lines were cultured in a humidified incubator at 37 °C and 5%

CO2 according to standard protocols. All cell lines were routinely tested for mycoplasma contamination and had a negative result. PATIENT SAMPLES Thirty pairs of LUAD tissues and adjacent

normal tissues were used for RNA extraction for qRT-PCR. Ninety-four LUAD tissues were used for the construction of tissue microarrays (TMAs). All tissue samples were collected in compliance

with informed consent policy before surgery. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. Samples were obtained from

biobank of Jiangsu Cancer Hospital (Jiangsu Institute of Cancer Research & The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University). All patients had signed informed consent for

donating their samples. SHRNA, PLASMID AND CELL TRANSFECTIONS ShRNA targeting MIR155HG and plasmid overexpressing MIR155HG were purchased from RiboBio, China and shRNA targeting MIR155HG,

respectively. The siRNAs targeting CCL5 and YBX1 were purchased from RiboBio. All sequences are listed in the Supplementary table. Cells with 80% confluence were transfected using

Lipofectamin RNAiMAX (Invitrogen, USA) and Lipofectamine 3000 (Invitrogen, USA) and the experimental procedure was according to protocol. Cells were collected or for further experiments 24 h

after transfection. The constructions were verified by qRT-PCR. All Primer sets, Sequences of siRNAs and shRNA sets are listed in Table S1. RNA EXTRACTION, REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION, AND

QUANTITATIVE REAL-TIME PCR (QRT-PCR) Total RNA from cells and fresh tissues was isolated using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, USA). For reverse transcription, cDNA was synthesized using the

PrimeScript RT Reagent Kit (Takara, Japan). The reaction was carried out for 15 min at 37 °C, 5 min at 85 °C, and then 4 °C until further use. qRT-PCR was preformed using ABI

QuantStudio6Flex (Thermo, USA) and ChamQ Universal SYBR Green PCR kit (Vazyme, China). GAPDH, Actin, and U6 were used as the internal controls. The relative level of each target RNA was

calculated using the 2△△Ct method and normalized to the internal controls. WESTERN BLOTTING AND ELISA ASSAY Total protein was extracted from cells lysed on ice with radioimmunoprecipitation

assay (RIPA) lysis buffer (Thermo, USA) and Protease Inhibitor Cocktail (Roche, USA). BCA Protein Assay Kit (KeyGEN, China) was used to determine the protein concentration. Equal amounts of

protein were resolved on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and transferred to a PVDF membrane (Millipore, USA). The membranes were blocked in 5% non-fat

milk and incubated with primary antibodies at 4 °C overnight, followed by incubation with corresponding secondary antibodies. The immunoblots were detected using a grayscale ratio with the

Odyssey CLx Imaging System (LI-COR, USA). Primary antibodies against YBX1(20339-1-AP, dilution:1:5000), PD-L1(28076-1-AP, dilution:1:300) and GAPDH (60004-1-Ig, dilution:1:50,000) were

bought from proteintech. Human CCL5 levels in conditioned medium from MIR155HG-sh/MIR155HG-overexpressed A549 cells were measured by ELISA using the Human CCL5 ELISA kit (Fcmacs, China)

according to the manufacturer’s protocol. ISOLATION AND ACTIVATION OF PERIPHERAL BLOOD MONONUCLEAR CELLS (PBMC) The Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) were isolated from the

peripheral blood in accordance with the manufacturer’s protocol using a PBMC separation tube (KeyGen, China). The process began with the careful addition of diluted blood to the top of the

BMC separation tube. Subsequent to centrifugation, the mononuclear cell was isolated and given a solitary wash with PBS. Characteristically, 4 × 106 PBMC were activated with a 20 µl T Cell

Activation/Expansion Kit (Miltenyi Biotec, USA) in a 1 ml T cell serum-free medium (Fcmacs, China). This medium was also supplemented with 20IL/mL IL-2 (R&D, USA). In the interests of

further expansion, viable cell density was routinely adjusted to 1 × 106 cells/ml every two to three days, assisted by the addition of fresh, complete T cell serum-free medium supplemented

again with 20IL/mL IL-2. MOUSE XENOGRAFT MODELS All animal experiments were conducted in conformity with the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Nanjing Medical University

provided full approval for this research. BALB/c Nude mice were acquired from GemPharmatech, Inc. (Nanjing, China) and randomly divided into two groups (_n_ = 5, no blinding was performed,

respectively). Cells were injected subcutaneously into the axilla of nude mice (5 × 106 cells/mouse). Adult female NCG mice (4 weeks) were purchased from GemPharmatech (Nanjing, China) and

randomly assigned into experiment groups. A549 tumor cells (sh-NC/sh-MIR155HG, Vector/MIR155HG) of 5 × 106 were injected into the right flank of NCG mice. Tumor volume was calculated by the

formula: volume = _ab_2/2 (a, the longer axis; b, the shorter axis). As previously described, PBMC from healthy donors underwent activation and expansion. A day before the tumor cell

injection, PBMC was translocated adoptively into the NCG mice through the tail vein, with each mouse receiving 1 × 107 cells intravenously. Following implantation, the tumor’s maximum

diameter underwent measurement every two days. IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY The formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded mice tumor tissue specimens were cut as serial 5‐μm sections. The detailed steps are

as previously reported [38]. In brief, the sections were treated with the primary antibodies CD3(Proteintech, China) for an overnight period. The sections were then stained with a

3,3-diaminobenzidine solution and treated with an HRP-polymer-conjugated secondary antibody (CST, USA) for 1 h at 37 °C. FLOW CYTOMETRY ANALYSIS For Cell Surface Flow Cytometry Staining,

cells were stained with fluorescently labeled antibodies to the surface proteins at a 1:100 dilution in Cell Staining Buffer (BioLegend, USA) for 30 min at 4 °C. For intracellular protein

analyses, cells were then fixed and permeabilized by using Fixation Buffer (BioLegend, USA) and Intracellular Staining Permeabilization Wash Buffer (BioLegend, USA) according to the

manufacturers’ instructions. Permeabilized cells were then incubated with fluorescently labeled antibodies to the intracellular proteins for 30 min at 4 °C. Flow cytometry analysis (BD

FACSCalibur, USA) was used for flow cytometry data acquisition, and data were analyzed with FlowJo software (version 10.5.3). Primary antibodies against CD3-PE(BioLegend, USA980008),

CD8-FITC(BioLegend, USA,Cat#980008), PD-L1-FITC(BioLegend, USA, Cat#374509), IFNG-BV421(BioLegend, USA, Cat502531) and IL-2-BV421(BioLegend, USA, Cat#500327). T CELL CHEMOTAXIS ASSAY AND T

CELL KILLING ASSAY IN VITRO The chemotaxis of T cells was assessed using a transwell with a 5 µm pore-sized cell culture insert. A549 cells (sh-NC/sh-MIR155HG, Vector/MIR155HG) were placed

in the lower wells, while the activated T cells were seeded in the upper wells. Incubation was performed overnight at 37 °C in a 5% CO2 environment. Flow cytometry analysis (BD FACSCalibur,

USA) was conducted on the samples after 24 hours. In the T cell killing assay, activated PBMC was co-cultured with tumor cells. Post-incubation, the tumor cell viability was determined by

Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) (KeyGen, China), and tumor cell apoptosis was identified via the Annexin V-FITC Apoptosis Detection Kit (KeyGen, China). The cell viability of adherent tumor cells

was gauged using the CCK8 assay as per the manufacturer’s instructions. The results were normalized to the control where no PBMCs were added. These procedures were conducted in triplicate.

For apoptosis detection, both suspension cells (predominantly PBMC and dead cells) and adherent cells were gathered and subjected to Annexin V-FITC staining following the manufacturer’s

instructions. The samples were analyzed via flow cytometry (BD FACSCalibur, USA). CYTOPLASMIC AND NUCLEAR RNA ISOLATION AND IF ASSAYS Cytoplasmic and nuclear RNA samples were isolated and

purified using an Ambion™ PARIS™ kit (Thermo, USA), in accordance with the manufacturer’s given instructions. To evaluate the expression levels of MIR155HG, GAPDH, and U6 in both cytoplasmic

and nuclear compartments, we executed qRT-PCR assay. GAPDH and U6 small nuclear RNA were employed as control measures for cytoplasmic and nuclear samples, respectively. RNA PULL-DOWN ASSAYS

RNA pull-down assays were executed applying the Pierce Magnetic RNA-Protein Pull-Down kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA), adhering to the manufacturer’s stipulations. RNA Polymerase (T7)

alongside Biotin RNA Labeling Mix (Roche, USA) were utilized to conduct in vitro transcription, and the transcribed biotinylated RNA (both sense and antisense) underwent purification. Around

8 μg of the purified biotinylated RNA was subsequently combined with magnetic beads, after which, A549 cell lysates were added and incubated overnight at 4 °C. The extracted proteins were

then assessed using mass spectrometry and Western blotting. RIP The RNA Immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay was conducted following the manufacturer’s protocols using a MagnaRIP RNA-Binding

Protein Immunoprecipitation kit (Millipore, USA). In brief, 5 µg of control IgG antibody and of anti-YBX1 (Proteintech, China) were attached to magnetic beads and incubated with

corresponding cell lysates overnight at a temperature of 4 °C. Subsequently, proteinase K was employed to digest the protein, and phenol-chloroform was applied to extract the RNA.

Ultimately, the expression of MIR155HG was detected by carrying out reverse transcription and qRT-PCR. CHIP The Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay was conducted using CHROMATIN IP

(CHIP) ASSAY KIT (Millipore, USA). The cells were initially stabilized with 1% formaldehyde and afterward quenched with glycine. Subsequent to this, the cells were resuspended in a lysis

buffer and the chromatin solution, which underwent enzymatic digestion, was then immunoprecipitated using an anti-YBX1 (Proteintech, China). The immunoprecipitated DNA was purified by means

of spin columns and analyzed via qRT-PCR. DUAL-LUCIFERASE REPORTER ASSAY For the CCL5 and PD-L1 luciferase reporter assay, reporter plasmid and corresponding siRNA were co-transfected into

A549 cells using Lipofectamine 3000 (Invitrogen Life Technologies, USA) and RNAiMAX(Invitrogen, USA). At 24 h after transfection, cells were analyzed using a Dual-Luciferase Reporter Assay

System (Vazyme, China). Firefly luciferase activity was normalized to Renilla luciferase activity. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS All results are representative of at least three independent

experiments. Statistical analyses and the number of samples (n) were described in detail for each figure. Data are presented as mean ± s.e.m. and computations were processed using GraphPad

Prism 8 software. The comparison between two groups utilized either a two-tailed unpaired or paired Student’s t-test. Survival functions were demonstrated by Kaplan–Meier curves with group

differences analyzed through a log-rank test. All _P_ values are *_P_ < 0.05, **_P_ < 0.01, ***_P_ < 0.001 and ****_P_ < 0.0001. DATA AVAILABILITY The mRNA profile and CNV

profile were downloaded from UCSC Xena (https://xenabrowser.net/). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was conducted via Kaplan–Meier Plotter (https://kmplot.com/analysis/). Difference expression

between LUAD and normal tissue assay was performed via GEPIA (http://gepia.cancer-pku.cn/). The data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its

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cell carcinoma. J Pathol Clin Res. 2022;8:422–35. Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study was supported by the grants from the

National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 82073211, 82372762, 81702892, 82002434, 82003106); Jiangsu Province Capability Improvement Project through Science, Technology and

Education, Jiangsu Provincial Medical Key Laboratory (ZDXYS202203); Jiangsu Provincial Medical Innovation Center (CXZX202224). AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes * These authors contributed

equally: Rutao Li, Yijian Zhang, Anpeng Wang. AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Cancer Hospital & Jiangsu Cancer Hospital

& Jiangsu Institute of Cancer Research, Nanjing, China Rutao Li, Yijian Zhang, Yipeng Feng, Te Zhang, Hui Wang, Yuzhong Chen, Xuming Song, HanLin Ding, Lin Xu, Gaochao Dong & Feng

Jiang * Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular and Translational Cancer Research, Cancer Institute of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing, China Rutao Li, Yijian Zhang, Yipeng Feng, Te Zhang, Hui Wang, 

Yuzhong Chen, Xinnian Yu, Xuming Song, HanLin Ding, Lin Xu, Gaochao Dong & Feng Jiang * The Fourth Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China Rutao Li, Yijian Zhang, 

Yipeng Feng, Te Zhang, Hui Wang, Yuzhong Chen, Xinnian Yu, Xuming Song, HanLin Ding, Lin Xu, Gaochao Dong & Feng Jiang * Department of Geriatric Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital

of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China Anpeng Wang * Department of Oncology, Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Cancer Hospital & Jiangsu Cancer Hospital & Jiangsu

Institute of Cancer Research, Nanjing, China Xinnian Yu * Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Personalized Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China Lin Xu Authors * Rutao

Li View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Yijian Zhang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Anpeng Wang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Yipeng Feng View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * Te Zhang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Hui Wang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar * Yuzhong Chen View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Xinnian Yu View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Xuming Song View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * HanLin Ding View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * Lin Xu View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Gaochao Dong View author publications You can also search for

this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Feng Jiang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS RL, YZ, and AW conceived the study, wrote

and reviewed the paper. FJ, GD and LX made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study, funding of the study, and supervision. YF, TZ and HW supervised the study and

provided feedback on experimental procedures and data interpretation. YC, XY, XS and HD performed the in silico analyses and carried out statistical analyses. RL, YZ, and AW contributed

equally. All authors were involved in writing the paper and had final approval of the submitted and published versions. CORRESPONDING AUTHORS Correspondence to Gaochao Dong or Feng Jiang.

ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. ETHICS APPROVAL AND CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE The research involving human subjects, human material, or human

data was in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University (KY-2024-038). All patients had

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stabilization abrogates tumor intrinsic oncogenic role of MIR155HG in lung adenocarcinoma. _Cell Death Discov._ 10, 334 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41420-024-02102-3 Download citation *

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