Shp1 Loss Enhances Macrophage Effector Function and Promotes Anti-Tumor Immunity

Shp1, encoded by the gene Ptpn6, is a protein tyrosine phosphatase that transduces inhibitory signals downstream of immunoreceptors in many immune cell types. Blocking Shp1 activity represents an exciting potential immunotherapeutic strategy for the treatment of cancer, as Shp1 inhibition would be predicted to unleash both innate and adaptive immunity against tumor cells. Antibodies blocking the interaction between CD47 on tumor cells and SIRPα on macrophages enhance macrophage phagocytosis, show efficacy in preclinical tumor models, and are being evaluated in the clinic. Here we found that Shp1 bound to phosphorylated peptide sequences derived from SIRPα and transduced the anti-phagocytic signal, as Shp1 loss in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages increased phagocytosis of tumor cells in vitro. We also generated a novel mouse model to evaluate the impact of global, inducible Ptpn6 deletion on anti-tumor immunity. We found that inducible Shp1 loss drove an inflammatory disease in mice that was phenotypically similar to that seen when Ptpn6 is knocked out from birth. This indicates that acute perturbation of Shp1 in vivo could drive hyperactivation of immune cells, which could be therapeutically beneficial, though at the risk of potential toxicity. In this model, we found that Shp1 loss led to robust anti-tumor immunity against two immune-rich syngeneic tumor models that are moderately inflamed though not responsive to checkpoint inhibitors, MC38 and E0771. Shp1 loss did not promote anti-tumor activity in the non-inflamed B16F10 model. The observed activity in MC38 and E0771 tumors was likely due to effects of both innate and adaptive immune cells. Following Shp1 deletion, we observed increases in intratumoral myeloid cells in both models, which was more striking in E0771 tumors. E0771 tumors also contained an increased ratio of effector to regulatory T cells following Shp1 loss. This was not observed for MC38 tumors, though we did find increased levels of IFNγ, a cytokine produced by effector T cells, in these tumors. Overall, our preclinical data suggested that targeting Shp1 may be an attractive therapeutic strategy for boosting the immune response to cancer via a mechanism involving both innate and adaptive leukocytes.