Work

BLTP3A dysfunction unleashes lysosomal stress–induced antitumor immunity through STING

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: SUMMARY High-grade serous ovarian cancer progresses within a lipid-rich ascites microenvironment that engages stress-adaptation programs supporting malignant growth, yet how failed stress resolution influences tumor progression remains incompletely defined. Here, we show that unresolved lysosomal stress restrains tumor progression by sustaining tumor cell-intrinsic STING activity and reorganizing antitumor immunity. We identify BLTP3A as a lysosomal stress-resolution factor in ovarian cancer and show that the common germline missense variant BLTP3A M1098T increases stress-induced lysosomal damage. Patients carrying M1098T had longer overall survival and tumors enriched for cytotoxic T cell–myeloid neighborhoods. In syngeneic tumors, Bltp3a loss or orthologous variant expression delayed progression and generated Cxcl9 + antigen-presenting macrophage niches; M1098T-expressing human tumors similarly promoted interferon-responsive myeloid and T-cell enrichment in humanized mice. Mechanistically, ascites-induced lysosomal stress activated a STING–ATF4–BLTP3A feedback program. BLTP3A dysfunction disrupted CASM-associated lysosomal stress resolution, resulting in prolonged STING activity and sustained tumor-derived IFN-λ without increased cGAMP. Tumor-cell STING and IFN-λ were required for immune remodeling and tumor control. Thus, BLTP3A-dependent lysosomal stress resolution constrains the persistence of stress-induced STING signaling, whereas failure of this response sustains a tumor-intrinsic inflammatory program that organizes protective antitumor immunity.

Source: bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

DOI: 10.64898/2026.09.25.752224