In vivo, treatment with the VPS34 inhibitor SB02024 enhances the positive effects of the STING agonist ADU-S100 in melanoma tumor-bearing mice. Thus, our study suggests that VPS34 inhibitors could be used to enhance STING-based anticancer therapies. CCL5 (C-C motif chemokine 5); CXCL10 (C-X-C motif chemokine 10); IFN (interferon); VPS34 (vacuolar protein sorting 34); cGAS (cyclic GMP-AMP Synthase); STING (stimulator of interferon genes protein); cGAMP (2'3'-cyclic guanosine monophosphate-adenosine monophosphate).
These results show that VPS34 inhibition augments the cGAS/STING pathway, leading to greater tumor control through immune-mediated mechanisms. We propose that pharmacological VPS34 inhibition may synergize with emerging therapies targeting the cGAS/STING pathway.