Hormonal therapies up-regulate MANF and overcome female susceptibility to immune checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis

Sci Transl Med. 2022 Nov 2;14(669):eabo1981. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abo1981. Epub 2022 Nov 2.

Abstract

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been increasingly used in combination for cancer treatment but are associated with myocarditis. Here, we report that tumor-bearing mice exhibited response to treatment with combinatorial anti-programmed cell death 1 and anti-cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 antibodies but also presented with cardiovascular toxicities observed clinically with ICI therapy, including myocarditis and arrhythmia. Female mice were preferentially affected with myocarditis compared to male mice, consistent with a previously described genetic model of ICI myocarditis and emerging clinical data. Mechanistically, myocardial tissue from ICI-treated mice, the genetic mouse model, and human heart tissue from affected patients with ICI myocarditis all exhibited down-regulation of MANF (mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor) and HSPA5 (heat shock 70-kDa protein 5) in the heart; this down-regulation was particularly notable in female mice. ICI myocarditis was amplified by heart-specific genetic deletion of mouse Manf and was attenuated by administration of recombinant MANF protein, suggesting a causal role. Ironically, both MANF and HSPA5 were transcriptionally induced by liganded estrogen receptor β and inhibited by androgen receptor. However, ICI treatment reduced serum estradiol concentration to a greater extent in female compared to male mice. Treatment with an estrogen receptor β-specific agonist and androgen depletion therapy attenuated ICI-associated cardiac effects. Together, our data suggest that ICI treatment inhibits estradiol-dependent expression of MANF/HSPA5 in the heart, curtailing the cardiomyocyte response to immune injury. This endocrine-cardiac-immune pathway offers new insights into the mechanisms of sex differences in cardiac disease and may offer treatment strategies for ICI myocarditis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Estradiol / adverse effects
  • Estradiol / metabolism
  • Estrogen Receptor beta / metabolism
  • Estrogen Receptor beta / therapeutic use
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Myocarditis* / complications
  • Myocarditis* / drug therapy
  • Myocytes, Cardiac / metabolism
  • Nerve Growth Factors / adverse effects
  • Nerve Growth Factors / metabolism

Substances

  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
  • Estrogen Receptor beta
  • Estradiol
  • MANF protein, human
  • Nerve Growth Factors
  • MANF protein, mouse