Journal: Frontiers in Immunology
Article Title: GINS2 promotes oral squamous cell carcinoma progression and immune evasion by recruiting PD-L1 + neutrophils and modulating the PTP4A1/PKM2 axis
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1637296
Figure Lengend Snippet: GINS2-associated neutrophils express PD-L1, mediating immunosuppression, and targeting GINS2 synergizes with anti-PD-L1 therapy in vivo . (a) Left: Representative flow cytometry histogram showing higher PD-L1 surface expression (MFI) on neutrophils from OSCC environment compared to control. (a) Right: Dot plot showing a significant positive correlation between GINS2 relative expression (in matched tumors) and PD-L1 MFI on associated neutrophils (n = 15 matched OSCC cases, Spearman correlation). Gating strategy: live (viability dye - ) → CD66b + neutrophils → PD-L1 (PE-conjugated) histogram/overlay. Readouts: PD-L1 MFI and %PD-L1 + among CD66b + cells (FMO-anchored). (b) EdU incorporation assay assessing proliferation of CD8+ T cells co-cultured with neutrophils +/- anti-PD-L1 antibody or control IgG. Representative images (upper) and quantification (lower) show increased T cell proliferation upon PD-L1 blockade. Scale bar = 50 µm. (c) Flow cytometry analysis assessing apoptosis (Annexin V-FITC/PI staining) of CD8+ T cells after co-culture and treatment with control IgG or anti-PD-L1 antibody. Upper: Representative flow plots. Lower: Quantification of the percentage of apoptotic (Annexin V+) CD8+ T cells. Gating strategy: lymphocytes (FSC-A vs SSC-A) → singlets (FSC-H/FSC-A) → live (viability dye - ) → CD3 + CD8 + T cells → Annexin V-FITC vs PI. Readouts: %Annexin V + (early + late apoptosis) among CD3 + CD8 + cells; PI used to distinguish early (Annexin V + /PI - ) vs late (Annexin V + /PI + ) apoptosis when reported. (d) Representative immunofluorescence images showing expression of PD-1 (red) and TIM-3 (green) on cells (likely T cells) within the tumor microenvironment. Nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar = 50 µm. (e) In vivo therapeutic efficacy study using NOD/SCID mice reconstituted with human T cells and neutrophils, injected with sh-GINS2 HN6 cells, and treated with PBS, control IgG, or anti-PD-L1 antibody. Representative images of excised tumors (upper), and quantification of tumor volume over time (middle) and final tumor weight (lower) across different groups: PBS, T cell only, T cell+neutrophils, T cell+neutrophils+sh-GINS2, T cell+neutrophils+sh-GINS2+anti-PD-L1. (f) Representative IHC staining for Ki67 in xenograft tumors from the different treatment groups in the in vivo study described in (d) . Scale bar = 50 µm. Data are presented as mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.
Article Snippet: Human OSCC cell lines (Cal27, HN6, SCC4, SCC25) and normal human oral keratinocytes (HOK) were purchased from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, VA, USA).
Techniques: In Vivo, Flow Cytometry, Expressing, Control, Cell Culture, Staining, Co-Culture Assay, Immunofluorescence, Drug discovery, Injection, Immunohistochemistry