Ferroptosis has emerged as a cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-induced tumor cell death pathway. The regulation of tumor cell sensitivity to ferroptosis is incompletely understood. Here, we report that interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF8) functions as a regulator of tumor cell intrinsic ferroptosis. Genome-wide gene expression profiling identified the ferroptosis pathway as an IRF8-regulated pathway in tumor cells. IRF8.KO tumor cells acquire resistance to intrinsic ferroptosis induction and IRF8-deficient tumor cells also exhibit decreased ferroptosis in response to tumor-specific CTLs. Irf8 deletion increased p53 expression in tumor cells and knocking out p53 in IRF8.KO tumor cells restored tumor cell sensitivity to intrinsic ferroptosis induction. Furthermore, IRF8.KO tumor cells grew significantly faster than WT tumor cells in immune-competent mice. To restore IRF8 expression in tumor cells, we designed and synthesized codon usage-optimized IRF8-encoding DNA to generate IRF8-encoding plasmid NTC9385R-mIRF8. Restoring IRF8 expression via a lipid nanoparticle-encapsulated NTC9385R-mIRF8 plasmid therapy suppressed established tumor growth in vivo. In human cancer patients, nivolumab responders have a significantly higher IRF8 expression level in their tumor cells as compared to the non-responders. Our data determine that IRF8 represses p53 expression to maintain tumor cell sensitivity to intrinsic ferroptosis.
Keywords: IRF8; cancer immunotherapy; ferroptosis; lipid nanoparticle gene therapy; p53; tumor cell death.