- Zhang, Yaohua;
- Sun, Chengcao;
- Li, Yajuan;
- Qin, Juan;
- Amancherla, Kaushik;
- Jing, Ying;
- Hu, Qingsong;
- Liang, Ke;
- Zhang, Zhao;
- Ye, Youqiong;
- Huang, Lisa A;
- Nguyen, Tina K;
- Egranov, Sergey D;
- Zhao, Zilong;
- Wu, Andrew;
- Xi, Yutao;
- Yao, Jun;
- Hung, Mien-Chie;
- Calin, George A;
- Cheng, Jie;
- Lim, Bora;
- Lehmann, Lorenz H;
- Salem, Joe-Elie;
- Johnson, Douglas B;
- Curran, Michael A;
- Yu, Dihua;
- Han, Leng;
- Darabi, Radbod;
- Yang, Liuqing;
- Moslehi, Javid J;
- Lin, Chunru
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been increasingly used in combination for cancer treatment but are associated with myocarditis. Here, we report that tumor-bearing mice exhibited response to treatment with combinatorial anti-programmed cell death 1 and anti-cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 antibodies but also presented with cardiovascular toxicities observed clinically with ICI therapy, including myocarditis and arrhythmia. Female mice were preferentially affected with myocarditis compared to male mice, consistent with a previously described genetic model of ICI myocarditis and emerging clinical data. Mechanistically, myocardial tissue from ICI-treated mice, the genetic mouse model, and human heart tissue from affected patients with ICI myocarditis all exhibited down-regulation of MANF (mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor) and HSPA5 (heat shock 70-kDa protein 5) in the heart; this down-regulation was particularly notable in female mice. ICI myocarditis was amplified by heart-specific genetic deletion of mouse Manf and was attenuated by administration of recombinant MANF protein, suggesting a causal role. Ironically, both MANF and HSPA5 were transcriptionally induced by liganded estrogen receptor β and inhibited by androgen receptor. However, ICI treatment reduced serum estradiol concentration to a greater extent in female compared to male mice. Treatment with an estrogen receptor β-specific agonist and androgen depletion therapy attenuated ICI-associated cardiac effects. Together, our data suggest that ICI treatment inhibits estradiol-dependent expression of MANF/HSPA5 in the heart, curtailing the cardiomyocyte response to immune injury. This endocrine-cardiac-immune pathway offers new insights into the mechanisms of sex differences in cardiac disease and may offer treatment strategies for ICI myocarditis.