IRF7 impacts on prostate cancer cell survival in response to radiation

Understanding the impact of radiotherapy on the evolution of treatment resistant prostate cancer is critical for selecting effective treatment combinations. Whilst activation of Type 1 interferon signalling is a hallmark of how cells respond to viral infection, in cancer cells, multiple stresses are known to activate this same response. In this study we have evaluated for the first time the changes in the interferon response induced by culturing prostate cancer cells under sphere-forming conditions and following irradiation. We report a conserved upregulated transcript profile for both conditions that is strongly associated with therapeutic resistance and cell survival in vitro and in vivo. The profile includes and is regulated by the Type 1 interferon master regulator IRF7 which, when depleted, delays tumour re-growth following irradiation. We immuno-stained two independent prostate cohorts for IRF7 and found that increased expression, particularly in cases with low PTEN expression, correlated with poor prognosis. To more comprehensively characterise the impact of IRF7 and radiation on cells, RNA-Seq was performed on IRF7 knockdown cells at different radiation doses. We identified a number of biological processes that were IRF7-dependent, including the formation of stem-like cell populations and also therapeutic vulnerabilities. For example, irradiation sensitised surviving cells to either a combination of an IKKε/TBK1 and a MEK inhibitor or treatment with an inhibitor of IDO1, an IRF7-dependent gene. Translationally our work suggests that IRF7 expression can be used to stratify patients who may not benefit from receiving radiotherapy alone but rather may benefit from treatment combinations. In two cohorts treated with radical intent, strong IRF7 staining was associated with disease-specific death implicating this pathway as a convergence point for therapeutic resistance in prostate and potentially other cancer types.