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Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) activation by tryptophan (Trp) catabolites enhances tumor malignancy and suppresses anti-tumor immunity. The context specificity of AHR target genes has so far impeded systematic investigation of AHR activity and its upstream enzymes across human cancers. A pan-tissue AHR signature, derived by natural language processing, revealed that across 32 tumor entities, interleukin-4-induced-1 (IL4I1) associates more frequently with AHR activity than IDO1 or TDO2, hitherto recognized as the main Trp-catabolic enzymes. IL4I1 activates the AHR through the generation of indole metabolites and kynurenic acid. It associates with reduced survival in glioma patients, promotes cancer cell motility, and suppresses adaptive immunity, thereby enhancing the progression of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in mice. Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) induces IDO1 and IL4I1. As IDO1 inhibitors do not block IL4I1, IL4I1 may explain the failure of clinical studies combining ICB with IDO1 inhibition. Taken together, IL4I1 blockade opens new avenues for cancer therapy.

In dieser Arbeit wurde die Rolle der L-Aminosäureoxidase IL4I1 für die Progression von Glioblastomen analysiert. IL4I1 wird in diesem Hirntumor erhöht exprimiert und führt dadurch zu einem Abbau der drei aromatischen Aminosäuren Tryptophan (Trp), Phenylalanin und Tyrosin zu ihren entsprechenden α-Ketosäuren (Pyruvaten). In-vitro-Versuche mit IL4I1-überexprimierenden Glioblastomzelllinien zeigen, dass nur das aus Trp-gebildete Indol-3-pyruvat (I3P) bzw. dessen nachgeschaltete Abbauprodukte eine Aktivierung des Arylhydrocarbon Rezeptors (AHR) und seiner Signaltransduktion in Glioblastomen bewirkt. Des Weiteren wurde der Einfluss von IL4I1 in der Tumor-Mikroumgebung auf die Kompetenz von T-Zellen charakterisiert. Das von den Tumorzellen gebildete und sezernierte I3P vermittelt eine Aktivierung des AHR in beiden T-Zellsubpopulationen. Damit einhergehend werden zwei Mechanismen ausgelöst, die die Tumorprogression fördern: eine Proliferationsinhibierung CD8+ zytotoxischer T-Zellen und eine vermehrte Differenzierung immunsuppressiver Treg.

Kynurenine formation by tryptophan-catabolic indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) plays a key role in tumor immune evasion and inhibition of IDO1 is efficacious in preclinical models of breast cancer. As the response of breast cancer to immune checkpoint inhibitors may be limited, a better understanding of the expression of additional targetable immunomodulatory pathways is of importance. We therefore investigated the regulation of IDO1 expression in different breast cancer subtypes. We identified estrogen receptor alpha (ER) as a negative regulator of IDO1 expression. Serum kynurenine levels as well as tumoral IDO1 expression were lower in patients with ER-positive than ER-negative tumors and an inverse relationship between IDO1 and estrogen receptor mRNA was observed across 14 breast cancer data sets. Analysis of whole genome bisulfite sequencing, 450k, MassARRAY and pyrosequencing data revealed that the IDO1 promoter is hypermethylated in ER-positive compared to ER-negative breast cancer. Reduced induction of IDO1 was also observed in human ER-positive breast cancer cell lines. IDO1 induction was enhanced upon DNA demethylation in ER-positive but not in ER-negative cells and methylation of an IDO1 promoter construct reduced IDO1 expression, suggesting that enhanced methylation of the IDO1 promoter suppresses IDO1 in ER-positive breast cancer. The association of ER overexpression with epigenetic downregulation of IDO1 appears to be a particular feature of breast cancer as IDO1 was not suppressed by IDO1 promoter hypermethylation in the presence of high ER expression in cervical or endometrial cancer.