Pregnenolone promotes immune evasion through blocking endogenous retrovirus expression

Highlights

• Sexual abstinence activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis

• Sexual abstinence promotes tumor progression by inducing pregnenolone production

• Pregnenolone facilitates the formation of H3K9me3 to suppress ERV replication

• Pregnenolone antagonist is a highly promising candidate for anti-tumor therapy

Summary

Research into steroid hormones shaping tumor biology has gained increasing attention. Using multiple mouse tumor models, we show that pregnenolone promoted tumor progression and reduced sensitivity to immunotherapy. Pregnenolone levels were markedly elevated in maternal mice experiencing mating deficiency. Mechanistically, pregnenolone directly binds Kap1 and inhibits Trim39-mediated ubiquitination at K750, leading to Kap1 stabilization and repression of endogenous retrovirus (ERV) expression and type-I interferon production. Furthermore, pharmacological antagonism of pregnenolone effectively suppressed tumor growth and enhanced immunotherapy efficacy. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized link between mating-associated steroid metabolism and tumor immune regulation and identify pregnenolone signaling as a potential therapeutic target in cancer.

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1550413125005844