A Reservoir of Stem-Like CD8 T Cells in the Tumor-Draining Lymph Node Maintains the Ongoing Anti-Tumor Immune Response

Autor: Aarthi Venkat, Brittany Fitzgerald, Martina Damo, Achia Khatun, Nikhil S. Joshi, Isabel Monroy, Amanda Hutchins, Weiguo Cui, Kelli A. Connolly, Can Cui, Moujtaba Y. Kasmani, Manik Kuchroo, Smita Krishnaswamy
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: SSRN Electronic Journal.
ISSN: 1556-5068
DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3640763
Popis: Intratumoral stem-like CD8+ T cells (TSL) are necessary for immunotherapeutic efficacy. Yet, tumors are rich in signals driving terminal differentiation of TSL cells into exhausted T cells. Using the “KP-NINJA” lung tumor model, we determined that tumor-specific TSL cells terminally differentiate in tumors, but that they are maintained by a reservoir of TSL cells from the tumor-draining lymph node (dLN). By tracing clones of tumor-specific CD8+ T cells using single-cell RNA/TCRseq, we found that dLN TSL cells were the developmental precursors of the more differentiated intratumoral T cell populations. Moreover, dLN TSL cells were developmentally stable over the disease course and blocking egress from dLNs resulted in a decrease in intratumoral TSL cells. Thus, we propose that the dLN reservoir protects the overall tumor-specific T cell population from terminal differentiation, allowing for prolonged responses under conditions of chronic antigen exposure. Future immunotherapeutic strategies could leverage this reservoir for anti-tumor effects.
Databáze: OpenAIRE