Treatment with a Cholecystokinin Receptor Antagonist, Proglumide, Improves Efficacy of Immune Checkpoint Antibodies in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 24; no. 4; p. 3625
• Main Authors: Shivapurkar, Narayan, Gay, Martha D., He, Aiwu (Ruth), Chen, Wenqiang, Golnazar, Shermineh, Cao, Hong, Duka, Tetyana, Kallakury, Bhaskar, Vasudevan, Sona, Smith, Jill P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 11.02.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Animals; Antimitotic agents; Antineoplastic agents; Apoptosis; Cancer therapies; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - immunology; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - metabolism; Cholecystokinin; Drug therapy; FDA approval; Fibrosis; Gene expression; Genes; Health aspects; Hepatoma; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors - immunology; Immunotherapy; Kinases; Liver; Liver cancer; Liver Neoplasms - immunology; Liver Neoplasms - metabolism; Lymphocytes; Mice; Pancreatic cancer; Peptides; Proglumide - pharmacology; Receptors, Cholecystokinin - antagonists & inhibitors; RNA; RNA sequencing; T cells; Tumors; cholecystokinin receptor; immune checkpoint antibodies; tumor microenvironment; hepatocellular carcinoma; proglumide; epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-associated deaths worldwide. Treatment with immune checkpoint antibodies has shown promise in advanced HCC, but the response is only 15–20%. We discovered a potential target for the treatment of HCC, the cholecystokinin-B receptor (...