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Fu C, Wang J, Ma T, Yin C, Zhou L, Clausen BE, Mi QS, Jiang A. β-Catenin in Dendritic Cells Negatively Regulates CD8 T Cell Immune Responses through the Immune Checkpoint Molecule Tim-3. Vaccines (Basel) 2024; 12:460. [PMID: 38793711 PMCID: PMC11125945 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines12050460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2024] [Revised: 04/15/2024] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated that β-catenin in dendritic cells (DCs) serves as a key mediator in promoting both CD4 and CD8 T cell tolerance, although the mechanisms underlying how β-catenin exerts its functions remain incompletely understood. Here, we report that activation of β-catenin leads to the up-regulation of inhibitory molecule T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3 (Tim-3) in type 1 conventional DCs (cDC1s). Using a cDC1-targeted vaccine model with anti-DEC-205 engineered to express the melanoma antigen human gp100 (anti-DEC-205-hgp100), we demonstrated that CD11c-β-cateninactive mice exhibited impaired cross-priming and memory responses of gp100-specific CD8 T (Pmel-1) cells upon immunization with anti-DEC-205-hgp100. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis revealed that β-catenin in DCs negatively regulated transcription programs for effector function and proliferation of primed Pmel-1 cells, correlating with suppressed CD8 T cell immunity in CD11c-β-cateninactive mice. Further experiments showed that treating CD11c-β-cateninactive mice with an anti-Tim-3 antibody upon anti-DEC-205-hgp100 vaccination led to restored cross-priming and memory responses of gp100-specific CD8 T cells, suggesting that anti-Tim-3 treatment likely synergizes with DC vaccines to improve their efficacy. Indeed, treating B16F10-bearing mice with DC vaccines using anti-DEC-205-hgp100 in combination with anti-Tim-3 treatment resulted in significantly reduced tumor growth compared with treatment with the DC vaccine alone. Taken together, we identified the β-catenin/Tim-3 axis as a potentially novel mechanism to inhibit anti-tumor CD8 T cell immunity and that combination immunotherapy of a DC-targeted vaccine with anti-Tim-3 treatment leads to improved anti-tumor efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunmei Fu
- Center for Cutaneous Biology and Immunology, Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA; (C.F.); (J.W.); (C.Y.); (L.Z.)
- Immunology Program, Henry Ford Cancer Institute, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
- College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | - Jie Wang
- Center for Cutaneous Biology and Immunology, Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA; (C.F.); (J.W.); (C.Y.); (L.Z.)
- Immunology Program, Henry Ford Cancer Institute, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
- College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | - Tianle Ma
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Engineering and Computer Science, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309, USA;
| | - Congcong Yin
- Center for Cutaneous Biology and Immunology, Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA; (C.F.); (J.W.); (C.Y.); (L.Z.)
- Immunology Program, Henry Ford Cancer Institute, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
- College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | - Li Zhou
- Center for Cutaneous Biology and Immunology, Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA; (C.F.); (J.W.); (C.Y.); (L.Z.)
- Immunology Program, Henry Ford Cancer Institute, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
- College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
- Department of Internal Medicine, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
| | - Björn E. Clausen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine, Paul Klein Center for Immune Intervention, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Langenbeckstrasse 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany;
| | - Qing-Sheng Mi
- Center for Cutaneous Biology and Immunology, Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA; (C.F.); (J.W.); (C.Y.); (L.Z.)
- Immunology Program, Henry Ford Cancer Institute, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
- College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
- Department of Internal Medicine, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
| | - Aimin Jiang
- Center for Cutaneous Biology and Immunology, Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA; (C.F.); (J.W.); (C.Y.); (L.Z.)
- Immunology Program, Henry Ford Cancer Institute, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
- College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
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DeGolier KR, Danis E, D'Antonio M, Cimons J, Yarnell M, Kedl RM, Kohler ME, Scott-Browne JP, Fry TJ. Antigen experience history directs distinct functional states of CD8+ CAR T cells during the anti-leukemia response. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-3712137. [PMID: 38196657 PMCID: PMC10775394 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3712137/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2024]
Abstract
Chimeric antigen receptor T cells are an effective therapy for B-lineage malignancies. However, many patients relapse and this therapeutic has yet to show strong efficacy in other hematologic or solid tumors. One opportunity for improvement lies in the ability to generate T cells with desirable functional characteristics. Here, we dissect the biology of CD8+ CAR T cells (CAR8) by controlling whether the T cell has encountered cognate TCR antigen prior to CAR generation. We find that prior antigen experience influences multiple aspects of in vitro and in vivo CAR8 functionality, resulting in superior effector function and leukemia clearance in the setting of limiting target antigen density compared to antigen-inexperienced T cells. However, this comes at the expense of inferior proliferative capacity, susceptibility to phenotypic exhaustion and dysfunction, and inability to clear wildtype leukemia in the setting of limiting CAR+ cell dose. Epigenomic and transcriptomic comparisons of these cell populations identified overexpression of the Runx2 transcription factor as a novel strategy to enhance CAR8 function, with a differential impact depending on prior cell state. Collectively, our data demonstrate that prior antigen experience determines functional attributes of a CAR T cell, as well as amenability to functional enhancement by transcription factor modulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kole R DeGolier
- Department of Immunology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Etienne Danis
- Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Shared Resource, University of Colorado Cancer Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Marc D'Antonio
- Department of Immunology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Jennifer Cimons
- Department of Immunology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Michael Yarnell
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
- Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Children's Hospital Colorado; Aurora, CO, USA
| | - Ross M Kedl
- Department of Immunology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
| | - M Eric Kohler
- Department of Immunology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
- Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Children's Hospital Colorado; Aurora, CO, USA
| | - James P Scott-Browne
- Department of Immunology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
- Department of Immunology and Genomic Medicine, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO, USA
| | - Terry J Fry
- Department of Immunology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Aurora, CO, USA
- Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Children's Hospital Colorado; Aurora, CO, USA
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