Modulating the CXCR2 Signaling Axis Using Engineered Chemokine Fusion Proteins to Disrupt Myeloid Cell Infiltration in Pancreatic Cancer.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has one of the lowest 5-year survival rates of all cancers, and limited treatment options exist. Immunotherapy is effective in some cancer types, but the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) of PDAC is a barrier to effective immunotherapy. CXCR2+ myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are abundant in PDAC tumors in humans and in mouse models. MDSCs suppress effector cell function, making them attractive targets for restoring anti-tumor immunity. In this study, we show that the most abundant soluble factors released from a genetically diverse set of human and mouse PDAC cells are CXCR2 ligands, including CXCL8, CXCL5, and CXCL1. Expression of CXCR2 ligands is at least partially dependent on mutant KRAS and NFκB signaling, which are two of the most commonly dysregulated pathways in PDAC. We show that MDSCs are the most prevalent immune cells in PDAC tumors. MDSCs expressed high levels of CXCR2, and we found that myeloid cells readily migrate toward conditioned media (CM) prepared from PDAC cultures. We designed CXCR2 ligand-Fc fusion proteins to modulate the CXCR2 chemotactic signaling axis. Unexpectedly, these fusion proteins were superior to native chemokines in binding and activation of CXCR2 on myeloid cells. These "superkines" were potent inhibitors of PDAC CM-induced myeloid cell migration and were superior to CXCR2 small-molecule inhibitors and neutralizing antibodies. Our findings suggest that CXCR2 superkines may disrupt myeloid cell recruitment to PDAC tumors, ultimately improving immunotherapy outcomes in patients with PDAC.