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Apatinib prevents natural killer cell dysfunction to enhance the efficacy of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 28, pages 89–97 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Apatinib, a selective vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has demonstrated activity against a wide range of solid tumors, including advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Preclinical and preliminary clinical results have confirmed the synergistic antitumor effects of apatinib in combination with anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) blockade. However, the immunologic mechanism of this combination therapy remains unclear. Here, using a syngeneic HCC mouse model, we demonstrated that treatment with apatinib resulted in attenuation of tumor growth and increased tumor vessel normalization. Moreover, our results indicated that natural killer cells, but not CD4+ or CD8+ T cells mediated the therapeutic efficacy of apatinib in HCC mouse models. As expected, the combined administration of apatinib and anti-PD-1 antibody into tumor-bearing mice generated potent immune responses resulting in a remarkable reduction of tumor growth. Furthermore, increased interferon-γ and decreased tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 levels were observed, suggesting the potential benefits of combination therapy with PD-1 blockade and apatinib in HCC.

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Fig. 1: The therapeutic efficacy of apatinib in Hep1-6 C57BL/6 mouse model.
Fig. 2: The effects of apatinib on angiogenesis and vascular normalization in vivo.
Fig. 3: The changes in tumor-infiltrating immune cells after apatinib therapy in vivo.
Fig. 4: Functional changes of NK cells in TILs after apatinib therapy in vivo.
Fig. 5: The therapeutic efficacy of apatinib combined with PD-1 blockade.
Fig. 6: The changes in cytokine and PD-L1 expression after combination therapy with apatinib and PD-1 blockade.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81703786; to YY) and the Tianjin Science and Technology Committee (No. 18JCZDJC36700; to ZP).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrative Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China

    Yinli Yang, Cong Wang, Haiyan Sun, Zhansheng Jiang, Yu Zhang & Zhanyu Pan

  2. Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin, China

    Yinli Yang, Cong Wang, Haiyan Sun, Zhansheng Jiang, Yu Zhang & Zhanyu Pan

  3. Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin, China

    Yinli Yang

  4. Tianjin’s Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin, China

    Zhanyu Pan

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Yang, Y., Wang, C., Sun, H. et al. Apatinib prevents natural killer cell dysfunction to enhance the efficacy of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Gene Ther 28, 89–97 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-020-0186-7

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