Monitoring and characterizing soluble and membrane-bound ectonucleotidases CD73 and CD39

PLoS One. 2019 Oct 25;14(10):e0220094. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220094. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The success of immunotherapy treatment in oncology ushered a new modality for treating a wide variety of cancers. However, lack of effect in some patients made it imperative to identify other pathways that are exploited by cancer cells to circumvent immune surveillance, and possibly synergize immune checkpoint treatment in those cases. It has been recently recognized that adenosine levels increase significantly in the tumor microenvironment and that adenosine/adenosine receptors play a powerful role as immunosuppressive and attenuating several effector T cell functions. The two main enzymes responsible for generating adenosine in the microenvironment are the ectonucleotidases CD39 and CD73, the former utilizes both ATP and ADP and produces AMP while the latter utilizes AMP and generates adenosine. Thus, these two enzymes combined are the major source for the bulk of adenosine produced in the microenvironment. They were shown to be validated targets in oncology leading to several clinical trials that include small molecules as well as antibodies, showing positive and encouraging results in the preclinical arena. Towards the development of novel drugs to target these enzymes, we have developed a platform that can be utilized to monitor the activities of both enzymes in vitro (biochemical) as well as in cells (cell based) assays. We have developed very sensitive and homogenous assays that enabled us to monitor the activity of both enzymes and demonstrate selectivity of known inhibitors as well as monoclonal antibodies. This should speed up screening for novel inhibitors that might lead to more effective cancer therapy.

MeSH terms

  • 5'-Nucleotidase / metabolism*
  • Adenosine Diphosphate / metabolism
  • Adenosine Monophosphate / metabolism
  • Adenosine Triphosphate / metabolism
  • Apyrase / metabolism*
  • Cell Membrane / enzymology*
  • GPI-Linked Proteins / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Jurkat Cells
  • Neoplasm Proteins / metabolism*
  • Neoplasms / enzymology*
  • Solubility

Substances

  • GPI-Linked Proteins
  • Neoplasm Proteins
  • Adenosine Monophosphate
  • Adenosine Diphosphate
  • Adenosine Triphosphate
  • 5'-Nucleotidase
  • NT5E protein, human
  • Apyrase
  • ENTPD1 protein, human

Grants and funding

Promega Corp. provided support in the form of salaries for authors to SG and KH, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.