TitleTelomere length sensitive regulation of interleukin receptor 1 type 1 (IL1R1) by the shelterin protein TRF2 modulates immune signalling in the tumour microenvironment.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2024
AuthorsMukherjee AKishore, Dutta S, Singh A, Sharma S, Roy SShekhar, Sengupta A, Chatterjee M, Vinayagamurthy S, Bagri S, Khanna D, Verma M, Soni D, Budharaja A, Bhisade SKailasrao, Anand V, Perwez A, George N, Faruq M, Gupta I, Sabarinathan R, Chowdhury S
JournalElife
Volume13
Date Published2024 Dec 27
ISSN2050-084X
KeywordsAnimals, Cell Line, Tumor, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Humans, Mice, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Receptors, Interleukin-1 Type I, Signal Transduction, Telomere, Telomeric Repeat Binding Protein 2, Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms, Tumor Microenvironment
Abstract

Telomeres are crucial for cancer progression. Immune signalling in the tumour microenvironment has been shown to be very important in cancer prognosis. However, the mechanisms by which telomeres might affect tumour immune response remain poorly understood. Here, we observed that interleukin-1 signalling is telomere-length dependent in cancer cells. Mechanistically, non-telomeric TRF2 (telomeric repeat binding factor 2) binding at the IL-1-receptor type-1 (IL1R1) promoter was found to be affected by telomere length. Enhanced TRF2 binding at the promoter in cells with short telomeres directly recruited the histone-acetyl-transferase (HAT) p300, and consequent H3K27 acetylation activated IL1R1. This altered NF-kappa B signalling and affected downstream cytokines like and . Further, expression was telomere-sensitive in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) clinical samples. Infiltration of tumour-associated macrophages (TAM) was also sensitive to the length of tumour cell telomeres and highly correlated with expression. The use of both IL1 Receptor antagonist (IL1RA) and targeting ligands could abrogate M2 macrophage infiltration in TNBC tumour organoids. In summary, using TNBC cancer tissue (>90 patients), tumour-derived organoids, cancer cells, and xenograft tumours with either long or short telomeres, we uncovered a heretofore undeciphered function of telomeres in modulating IL1 signalling and tumour immunity.

DOI10.7554/eLife.95106
Alternate JournalElife
PubMed ID39728924
PubMed Central IDPMC11677240
Grant ListIA/S/18/2/504021 / / Wellcome Trust DBt India Alliance /