Immune microenvironment

Immune microenvironment dysfunctions enable malignification at the onset of MDS Ganan-Gomez I, Ma F, Chien KS, Yang H, Montalban-Bravo G, Wildeman BE, Kumar B, Kim YJ, Daher M, Takahashi K, Garcia-Manero G and Colla S

1. BM Innate Immune Cells Are Activated in CCUS Patients

Background

• Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS): clonal stem cell malignancies • Standard therapy not curative, transient responses, poor prognosis • Are prevention or early intervention possible in MDS? • Clonal cytopenias of undetermined significance (CCUS): aging-related premalignant state , low-grade clonal hematologic disorders at high risk of progression to MDS and leukemia • HSC-intrinsic alterations and extrinsic inflammatory factors cooperate to induce abnormal differentiation in CCUS (Ganan- Gomez et al. ASH Meeting 2021). • Characterize early alterations in the bone marrow (BM) immune microenvironment that lead to the expansion of the MDS clone Aim • BM mononuclear cells (MNCs) from patients with CCUS and young and elderly healthy donors (HDs) • Single-cell transcriptomics (scRNA-seq) • In vitro functional assays • Single-cell genomics/antigen expression analysis (Tapestri) Methods

scRNA-seq in BM MNCs

pDCs

cDCs

My/Mono

NK cells

NK cells

E r

HSPCs

CCUS (n=4) Elderly HD (n=2) Young HD (n=2)

B pro

PCs

CD8 + T cells

CD8 + T cells

B cells

CD4 + T cells

CD4 + T cells

0 1020304050 -Log 10 [P val]

Formation of ATP by chemiosmotic coupling Interferon alpha/beta signaling Neutrophil degranulation Mitochondrial translation initiation Cytokine Signaling in Immune system Membrane Trafficking Eukaryotic Translation Elongation Respiratory electron transport, ATP synthesis by chemiosmotic coupling Adaptive Immune System Parasite infection Pathway analysis of significantly upregulated genes in CCUS

Immune microenvironment dysfunctions enable malignification at the onset of MDS Ganan-Gomez I, Ma F, Chien KS, Yang H, Montalban-Bravo G, Wildeman BE, Kumar B, Kim YJ, Daher M, Takahashi K, Garcia-Manero G and Colla S

2. Inhibitory Crosstalk Predicted Between NK and CD8 + T Cells in CCUS

3. CCUS NK/T Cells Are Terminally Differentiated toward Exhaustion

scRNA-seq in sorted CD3 + T and CD56 + NK cells

CellPhoneDBanalysis of DEGs

NK cell activation by CD8 + T cells HLA-E:CD94/NKG2C CD58:CD2 FASLG:TNFRSF1A

CCUS (n=3) Elderly HD (n=2) Young HD (n=2)

Ligand-expressing cells

NK

CD4 T

CD8 T

CytoTRACE differentiation scores Exhaustion marker expression

CCUS Elderly Young

Receptor-expressing cells

Immunosuppresion of CD8 + T cells by NK cells CD48:CD244 TGFB1:TGFBR1

Immune microenvironment dysfunctions enable malignification at the onset of MDS Ganan-Gomez I, Ma F, Chien KS, Yang H, Montalban-Bravo G, Wildeman BE, Kumar B, Kim YJ, Daher M, Takahashi K, Garcia-Manero G and Colla S

4. NK Cells from CCUS Patients Are Irreversibly Dysfunctional

5. NK Cells Are Part of the Mutant CCUS Clone

Joint scDNA-seq and surface protein analysis (Tapestri)

CD8 + T

No expansion In vitro cytolysis assays with leukemic cell lines

Post-7-day NK cell expansion

CD4 + T

Young Healthy Old Healthy CCUS THP1 alone

K562 alone Young HDs Old HDs CCUS

✱✱✱✱

T Prog

✱✱✱

✱✱✱✱

✱✱✱

600

100 150 200 250

NK cells

B cells cDC pDC

400

CD16 + Mono

200

0 50

0 1020304050 0

My/Mono

0

3

6

9

12

Time (h)

Time (h)

• The innate immune repertoire is molecularly and functionally altered in patients with CCUS • Immune evasion of premalignant clones may contribute to clonal evolution to MDS • Rationale for adoptive NK cell therapy in patients with CCUS or low-burden MDS to prevent/arrest MDS progression Conclusions

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