Data on the identification of VRK2 as a mediator of PD-1 function

• Main Authors: Michael Peled, Kieran Adam, Adam Mor
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-08-01
• Series: Data in Brief
• Subjects: PD-1; T CELL; TCR; VRK2
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352340921004522

Therapeutic programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade enhances T cell mediated anti-tumor immunity, but many patients do not respond, and a significant proportion develops inflammatory toxicities. To develop better therapeutics and to understand the signaling pathways downstream of PD-1 we performed phosphoproteomic interrogation of PD-1 to identify key mediators of PD-1 signaling. Hereby, supporting data of the research article “VRK2 inhibition synergizes with PD-1 blockade to improve T cell responses” are presented. In the primary publication, we proposed that VRK2 is a unique therapeutic target and that combination of VRK2 inhibitors with PD-1 blockade may improve cancer immunotherapy. Here, we provide data on the effect of other kinases on PD-1 signaling utilizing shRNA knockdown of the different kinases in Jurkat T cells. In addition, we used VRK2 inhibition by a pharmacologic approach in the MC38 tumor mouse model, to show the combined outcome of anti PD-1 treatment with VRK2 inhibition. These data provide additional targets downstream PD-1 and point toward methods of testing the effect of the inhibition of these targets on tumor progression in vivo.