Fascin inhibitor increases intratumoral dendritic cell activation and anti-cancer immunity

Fascin protein is the main actin-bundling protein in filopodia and invadopodia, which are critical for tumor cell migration, invasion, and metastasis. Small-molecule fascin inhibitors block tumor invasion and metastasis and increase the overall survival of tumor-bearing mice. Here, we report a finding that fascin blockade additionally reinvigorates anti-tumor immune response in syngeneic mouse models of various cancers. Fascin protein levels are increased in conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) in the tumor microenvironment. Mechanistically, fascin inhibitor NP-G2–044 increases the number of intratumoral-activated cDCs and enhances the antigen uptake by cDCs. Furthermore, together with PD-1 blocking antibody, NP-G2–044 markedly increases the number of activated CD8(+) T cells in the otherwise anti-PD-1 refractory tumors. Reduction of fascin levels in cDCs, but not fascin gene knockout in tumor cells, mimics the anti-tumor immune effect of NP-G2–044. These data demonstrate that fascin inhibitor NP-G2–044 simultaneously limits tumor metastasis and reinvigorates anti-tumor immune responses.