NNMT inhibition in cancer-associated fibroblasts restores antitumour immunity
Janna Heide, Agnes Julia Bilecz, Samarjit Patnaik, Maria Francesca Allega, Leonhard Donle, Kaiting Yang, Ethan A. Teich, Yan Li, Qiaoshan Lin, Ke Kong, Li Liu, Tae Gyun Yang, Ken Cheng, Jonathan H. Shrimp, Quinlin Hanson, Min Shen, Hongmao Sun, Hardik Shah, Lisa Schweizer, Katarzyna Zawieracz, Andrea Olland, André White, R.K. Suto, Razzaq Alhunayan, Medine Tasdemir, Noa Longman, Hua Liang, Matthias Mann, Gordon M. Stott, Matthew D. Hall, Simon Schwörer, Ralph R. Weichselbaum, András Piffkó, Ernst Lengyel
Abstract
Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) have a pivotal cancer-supportive role, yet CAF-targeted therapies are lacking1,2. Here, using spatial transcriptomics and single-cell RNA sequencing, we investigate the role of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) in high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Mechanistically, NNMT-induced H3K27me3 hypomethylation drives complement secretion from CAFs, attracting immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) to the tumour. Nnmt knockout in immunocompetent mice impairs tumour growth in syngeneic ovarian, breast and colon tumour models through enhanced CD8+ T cell activation. Using high-throughput screening, we develop a potent and specific NNMT inhibitor that reduces the tumour burden and metastasis in multiple mouse cancer models and restores immune checkpoint blockade efficacy by decreasing CAF-mediated recruitment of MDSCs and reinvigorating CD8+ T cell activation. Our findings establish NNMT as a central CAF regulator and a promising therapeutic target to mitigate immunosuppression in the tumour microenvironment. An NNMT inhibitor reduces tumour burden and metastasis in multiple mouse cancer models and restores immune checkpoint blockade efficacy by decreasing cancer-associated-fibroblast-mediated recruitment of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and reinvigorating CD8+ T cell activation.