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Cancer cellFeb 2025 DOI:
10.1016/j.ccell.2025.01.013

EZH1/EZH2 inhibition enhances adoptive T cell immunotherapy against multiple cancer models

Porazzi, Patrizia; Nason, Siena; Yang, Ziqi; Carturan, Alberto; Ghilardi, Guido; Guruprasad, Puneeth; Patel, Ruchi P; Tan, Melody; Padmanabhan, Anushka Anant; Lemoine, Jean; Fardella, Eugenio; Zhang, Yunlin; Pajarillo, Raymone; Chen, Linhui; Ugwuanyi, Ositadimma; Markowitz, Kelly; Delman, Devora; Angelos, Mathew G; Shestova, Olga; Isshiki, Yusuke; Blanchard, Tatiana; Béguelin, Wendy; Melnick, Ari M; Linette, Gerald P; Beatty, Gregory L; Carreno, Beatriz M; Cohen, Ivan J; Paruzzo, Luca; Schuster, Stephen J; Ruella, Marco
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Abstract
Tumor resistance to chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) and, in general, to adoptive cell immunotherapies (ACTs) is a major challenge in the clinic. We hypothesized that inhibiting the tumor drivers' methyltransferases EZH2 and EZH1 could enhance ACT by rewiring cancer cells to a more immunogenic state. In human B cell lymphoma, EZH2 inhibition (tazemetostat) improved the efficacy of anti-CD19 CAR-T by enhancing activation, expansion, and tumor infiltration. Mechanistically, tazemetostat-treated tumors showed upregulation of genes related to adhesion, B cell activation, and inflammatory responses, and increased avidity to CAR-T. Furthermore, tazemetostat improved CAR- and TCR-engineered T cell efficacy in multiple liquid (myeloma and acute myeloid leukemia) and solid (sarcoma, ovarian, and prostate) cancers. Lastly, combined EZH1/EZH2 inhibition (valemetostat) further boosted CAR-T efficacy and expansion in multiple cancers. This study shows that EZH1/2 inhibition reprograms tumors to a more immunogenic state and potentiates ACT in preclinical models of both liquid and solid cancers.
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