Blockade of PD-L1 expression on tumor cells via anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) has shown great promise for successful cancer treatment by overcoming T-cell exhaustion; however, the function of PD-L1 on natural killer (NK) cells and the effects of anti-PD-L1 mAb on PD-L1 + NK cells remain unknown. Moreover, patients with PD-L1 − tumors can respond favorably to anti-PD-L1 mAb therapy for unclear reasons. Here, we show that some tumors can induce PD-L1 on NK cells via AKT signaling, resulting in enhanced NK-cell function and preventing cell exhaustion. Anti-PD-L1 mAb directly acts on PD-L1 + NK cells against PD-L1 − tumors via a p38 pathway. Combination therapy with anti-PD-L1 mAb and NK cell-activating cytokines significantly improves the therapeutic efficacy of human NK cells against PD-L1 − human leukemia when compared with monotherapy. Our discovery of a PD-1-independent mechanism of antitumor efficacy via the activation of PD-L1 + NK cells with anti-PD-L1 mAb offers new insights into NK-cell activation and provides a potential explanation as to why some patients lacking PD-L1 expression on tumor cells still respond to anti-PD-L1 mAb therapy.

Thermosensitive genic male-sterile (TGMS) lines, which are male-sterile at restrictive (high) temperatures but male-fertile at permissive (low) temperatures, have been widely used in breeding two-line hybrid rice (Oryza sativa L.). Here we find that mutation of thermosensitive genic male sterile 5 (tms5) in rice causes the TGMS trait through a loss of RNase Z S1 function. We show that RNase Z S1 processes the mRNAs of three ubiquitin fusion ribosomal protein L40 (Ub L40 ) genes into multiple fragments in vitro and in vivo. In tms5 mutants, high temperature results in increased levels of Ub L40 mRNAs. Overaccumulation of Ub L40 mRNAs causes defective pollen production and male sterility. Our results uncover a novel mechanism of RNase Z S1 -mediated Ub L40 mRNA regulation and shows that loss of this regulation produces TGMS in rice, a finding with potential applications in hybrid crop breeding.

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Patients with steroid refractory gastrointestinal (GI) tract graft- vs.-host disease (GvHD) face a poor prognosis and limited therapeutic options. To accurately assess the efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in treating steroid refractory GI tract GvHD, we conducted a pilot study involving eight patients. Having received FMTs, all patients' clinical symptoms relieved, bacteria enriched, and microbiota composition reconstructed. Compared to those who did not receive FMT, these eight patients achieved a higher progression-free survival. FMT can serve as a therapeutic option for GI tract aGVHD, but its effectiveness and safety need further evaluations.Clinical Trial Registration: NCT03148743.

Extracellular high-mobility group box-1 (HMGB-1) has been implicated in the inflammation response leading to the precancerous lesions of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the role of HMGB-1 in the inflammation response in normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells and its underlying mechanisms were still not fully understood. In this study, the inflammation response in NHBE cells was stimulated by 2.5, 5, and 10 μg/ml HMGB-1. However, the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) blocker RAGE-Ab (5 μg/ml) or 10 μM c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) inhibitor SP600125 could inhibit HMGB1-induced the release of inflammation cytokines including TNF-α, IL-8, IL-10, and MCP-1 in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, HMGB1-induced RAGE protein expression, JNK and NF-κB activation were attenuated by the pretreatment with RAGE-Ab or JNK inhibitor SP600125 in Western blot analysis. Our data indicated that HMGB-1 induced inflammation response in NHBE cells through activating RAGE/JNK/NF-κB pathway. HMGB-1 could act as a therapeutic target for inflammation leading NHBE cells to the precancerous lesions of NSCLC.

MicroRNA-106a-5p (MiR-106a-5p), a small non-coding RNA, has been reported to be downregulated in astrocytoma, osteosarcoma and colorectal cancer. However, the expression levels and biological function in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) have not been studied yet. In this study, we found that the miR-106a-5p was significantly downregulated in RCC tissues and cell lines, and that overexpression of miR-106a-5p led to decreased cell metastasis ability in a xenograft model. Inhibition of miR-106a-5p in RCC cell lines altered the cell migration, invasion and wound healing abilities. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that miR-106a-5p directly bound to the 3′-UTR of the PAK5 mRNA and mediated a decrease in the protein expression of PAK5. We further proved that PAK5 protein levels were negatively correlated with the miR-106a-5p expression in both patient samples and xenograft model. In epigenetics, methylation specific PCR experiments indicated that the upstream gene promoter of miR-106a-5p was hypermethylated in RCC, which might be responsible for its downregulation. Our findings suggested that miR-106a-5p might be a potential gene therapy target for the treatment of RCC metastasis.

Highlights d The immunity against RNA viruses severely inhibits the catalytic activity of OTUD3 d Loss of OTUD3 elevates innate antiviral immune response d OTUD3 directly hydrolyzed Lys63 polyubiquitination on MAVS d Lys129 acetylation increases OTUD3 activity to Lys63-Ub; SIRT1 removes Lys129 acetylation

SummaryToll like receptors (TLRs) are the major agents for innate immunity that recognize invading microbial products and regulate the growth of normal and malignant human B lymphocytes. Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal plasma cell malignancy, though the regulatory role of TLRs in MM plasma cells has been reported, the molecular mechanism remains unclear. We first compared the transcripts of TLR1 to TLR10 in MM patients and healthy donors and found that TLR2, ‐4 and ‐9 transcripts were higher in bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs) from patients than those from donors; in addition the expression of TLR4 and TLR9 were higher in MM cells than normal cells as demonstrated by flow cytometric analyses. The ligands of these two TLRs were capable to promote the growth of MM cells and protect them from serum‐deprivation‐induced apoptosis but not normal plasma cells, which could be attenuated with anti‐IL6 neutralizing antibodies or blockage of NF‐κB activities. Further investigation demonstrated that these TLR ligands could trigger the nuclear translocation of NF‐κB p65 and the activated NF‐κB was sufficient to increase the expression of IL6 transcript in MM cells. These data suggested that activated NF‐κB signalling probably plays a crucial role for the ligands of TLR4 and TLR9 to promote the growth and survival of MM cells partially through IL6 autocrine.