Immunotargeting of the xCT Cystine/Glutamate Antiporter Potentiates the Efficacy of HER2-Targeted Immunotherapies in Breast Cancer

Abstract

Despite HER2-targeted therapies improving the outcome of HER2⁺ breast cancer, many patients experience resistance and metastatic progression. Cancer stem cells (CSC) play a role in this resistance and progression, thus combining HER2 targeting with CSC inhibition could improve the management of HER2⁺ breast cancer. The cystine-glutamate antiporter, xCT, is overexpressed in mammary CSCs and is crucial for their redox balance, self-renewal, and resistance to therapies, representing a potential target for breast cancer immunotherapy. We developed a combined immunotherapy targeting HER2 and xCT using the Bovine Herpes virus-4 vector, a safe vaccine that can confer immunogenicity to tumor antigens. Mammary cancer-prone BALB-neuT mice, transgenic for rat Her2, were immunized with the single or combined vaccines. Anti-HER2 vaccination slowed primary tumor growth, whereas anti-xCT vaccination primarily prevented metastasis formation. The combination of the two vaccines exerted a complementary effect by mediating the induction of cytotoxic T cells and of HER2 and xCT antibodies that induce antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity and hinder cancer cell proliferation. Antibodies targeting xCT, but not those targeting HER2, directly affected CSC viability, self-renewal, and migration, inducing the antimetastatic effect of xCT vaccination. Our findings present a new therapy for HER2⁺ breast cancer, demonstrating that CSC immunotargeting via anti-xCT vaccination synergizes with HER2-directed immunotherapy.