NCOA3 impairs the efficacy of anti-PD-L1 therapy via HSP90α/EZH2/CXCL9 axis in colon cancer

Abstract

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized colon cancer treatment, but their efficacy is largely restricted by the limited presence of CD8⁺ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). However, the specific genetic alterations that impact the CD8⁺ CTL infiltration in colon cancer remain poorly understood. Here, we analyzed clinical and multi-omics data from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) ICIs-treated and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) cohorts to screen the key mutations that may influence the efficacy of immunotherapy. We found that patients with NCOA3 mutations exhibit better response to immunotherapy and higher CD8⁺ CTL infiltration. In vitro and in vivo experiments revealed that mutant NCOA3 increases the efficacy of anti-PD-L1 and CD8⁺ CTL recruitment by upregulating C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 9 (CXCL9), which is dependent on its impaired intrinsic histone acetyltransferase activity. Mechanistically, wild-type NCOA3 as histone acetyltransferase upregulates Heat shock protein 90 alpha (HSP90α) by enhancing histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation (H3K27ac) at its promoter region. Increased HSP90α stabilizes Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), which then increase the histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) at the CXCL9 promoter region, thereby suppressing the expression of CXCL9. Targeted inhibition of NCOA3 by small molecular inhibitor SI-2 improves the efficacy of PD-L1 blockade therapy. NCOA3 could serve as a novel biomarker and potential target to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy.