Abstract
Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) and tumor relapse remain major complications after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Alloreactive T cells and cancer cells share a similar metabolic phenotype to meet the bioenergetic demands necessary for cellular proliferation and effector functions. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) is an essential co-factor in energy metabolism and is constantly replenished by nicotinamide phosphoribosyl-transferase (Nampt), the rate-limiting enzyme in the NAD salvage pathway. Here we show, that Nampt blockage strongly ameliorates aGVHD and limits leukemic expansion. Nampt was highly elevated in serum of patients with gastrointestinal GVHD and was particularly abundant in human and mouse intestinal T cells. Therapeutic application of the Nampt small-molecule inhibitor, Fk866, strongly attenuated experimental GVHD and caused NAD depletion in T-cell subsets, which displayed differential susceptibility to NAD shortage. Fk866 robustly inhibited expansion of alloreactive but not memory T cells and promoted FoxP3-mediated lineage stability in regulatory T cells. Furthermore, Fk866 strongly reduced the tumor burden in mouse leukemia and graft-versus-leukemia models. Ex vivo studies using lymphocytes from GVHD patients demonstrated potent antiproliferative properties of Fk866, suggesting potential clinical utility. Thus, targeting NAD immunometabolism represents a novel approach to selectively inhibit alloreactive T cells during aGVHD with additional antileukemic efficacy.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Alexandra Pfister, Christina Schwabegger, Barbara Enrich, Heide Dierbach, Alexandra Wegmayr, and Werner Klotz for excellent technical assistance and helpful advice. We thank H.G. Knaus for generously allocating lab space and the team of the University Hospital for Radiotherapy and Radiation Oncology for providing irradiation equipment. This study was supported by the intramural funding program of the Medical University Innsbruck for young scientists MUI−START (project 2016−01−006 to RRG) and by the Austrian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (ÖGGH to RRG). HT was supported by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG (K−Project No. 843536) funded by the BMVIT, BMWFW, the Wirtschaftsagentur Wien and the Standortagentur Tirol.
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RRG, SM, KS, FG, LM, BT and BK performed experiments. SR and KS performed flow cytometry analysis. PM provided pathology expertise. ME, HS, ARM and DN provided access to clinical samples and HO performed LC−MS/MS studies. ARM, HT, RZ and DN provided critical feedback and contributed to paper preparation. RRG conceived the study, analyzed and interpreted data and prepared the paper together with SM and DN.
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Gerner, R.R., Macheiner, S., Reider, S. et al. Targeting NAD immunometabolism limits severe graft-versus-host disease and has potent antileukemic activity. Leukemia 34, 1885–1897 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-020-0709-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-020-0709-0
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