RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Thymosin α1 protects from CTLA-4 intestinal immunopathology
JF Life Science Alliance
JO Life Sci. Alliance
FD Life Science Alliance LLC
SP e202000662
DO 10.26508/lsa.202000662
VO 3
IS 10
A1 Giorgia Renga
A1 Marina M Bellet
A1 Marilena Pariano
A1 Marco Gargaro
A1 Claudia Stincardini
A1 Fiorella D’Onofrio
A1 Paolo Mosci
A1 Stefano Brancorsini
A1 Andrea Bartoli
A1 Allan L Goldstein
A1 Enrico Garaci
A1 Luigina Romani
A1 Claudio Costantini
YR 2020
UL https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/3/10/e202000662.abstract
AB The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors has represented a major boost in cancer therapy, but safety concerns are increasingly being recognized. Indeed, although beneficial at the tumor site, unlocking a safeguard mechanism of the immune response may trigger autoimmune-like effects at the periphery, thus making the safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors a research priority. Herein, we demonstrate that thymosin α1 (Tα1), an endogenous peptide with immunomodulatory activities, can protect mice from intestinal toxicity in a murine model of immune checkpoint inhibitor–induced colitis. Specifically, Tα1 efficiently prevented immune adverse pathology in the gut by promoting the indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) 1–dependent tolerogenic immune pathway. Notably, Tα1 did not induce IDO1 in the tumor microenvironment, but rather modulated the infiltration of T-cell subsets by inverting the ratio between CD8+ and Treg cells, an effect that may depend on Tα1 ability to regulate the differentiation and chemokine expression profile of DCs. Thus, through distinct mechanisms that are contingent upon the context, Tα1 represents a plausible candidate to improve the safety/efficacy profile of immune checkpoint inhibitors.