An anti-PD-1 antisense oligonucleotide promotes the expression of soluble PD-1 by blocking the interaction between SRSF3 and an exonic splicing enhancer of PD-1 exon 3

PD-1 is a key immune checkpoint molecule. Anti-PD-1 immunotherapy is encouraging in cancer treatment. However, it still needs to be improved. PD-1 has at least five isoforms generated by alternative splicing. An isoform without exon 3 encoding soluble PD-1 (sPD-1) can activate anti-tumor immunity by inhibiting the interaction between cellular surface full-length PD-1 (flPD-1) and PD-L1. However, the regulatory mechanism of exon 3 splicing remains largely unknown. Here, we screened the exon 3 sequence by mutation and searched corresponding splicing factors by SpliceAid database and pulldown assay. The alternative splicing of PD-1 exon 3 was analyzed by RT-PCR. The expression levels of flPD-1 and sPD-1 were analyzed by Western blot, flow cytometry, and ELISA. We discovered that an exonic splicing enhancer (ESE) of exon 3 is essential for its inclusion. Moreover, SRSF3 can bind to this ESE and enhance exon 3 inclusion and flPD-1 expression. We designed and screened out an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) targeting PD-1 to block the interaction between SRSF3 and ESE, and significantly increase exon 3 skipping and sPD-1 expression, which was verified in various tumor cells in addition to oral cancer cells. Altogether, our results uncovered the regulatory mechanism of human PD-1 exon 3 splicing and sPD-1 expression and further designed a novel anti-PD-1 ASO, which are useful for developing a new method of anti-cancer immunotherapy.