Allergic asthma is caused by Th2-cell-type cytokines in response to allergen exposure. Type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) are a newly identified subset of immune cells that, along with Th2 cells, ...contribute to the pathogenesis of asthma by producing copious amounts of IL-5 and IL-13, which cause eosinophilia and airway hyperreactivity (AHR), a cardinal feature of asthma. ILC2s express ICOS, a T cell costimulatory molecule with a currently unknown function. Here we showed that a lack of ICOS on murine ILC2s and blocking the ICOS:ICOS-ligand interaction in human ILC2s reduced AHR and lung inflammation. ILC2s expressed both ICOS and ICOS-ligand, and the ICOS:ICOS-ligand interaction promoted cytokine production and survival in ILC2s through STAT5 signaling. Thus, ICOS:ICOS-ligand signaling pathway is critically involved in ILC2 function and homeostasis.
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•Human and murine ILC2s express both ICOS and ICOS-ligand•The ICOS:ICOS-ligand interaction is required for survival and efficient function of ILC2s•STAT5 signaling is impaired in the absence of ICOS
Akbari and colleagues show the requirement of Inducible T cell Costimulator (ICOS) for the survival and efficient cytokine production of type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), which are key players in the pathogenesis of allergic asthma.
Targeting immune checkpoints such as programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1), programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PDL1) and cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA4) has achieved noteworthy benefit in ...multiple cancers by blocking immunoinhibitory signals and enabling patients to produce an effective antitumour response. Inhibitors of CTLA4, PD1 or PDL1 administered as single agents have resulted in durable tumour regression in some patients, and combinations of PD1 and CTLA4 inhibitors may enhance antitumour benefit. Numerous additional immunomodulatory pathways as well as inhibitory factors expressed or secreted by myeloid and stromal cells in the tumour microenvironment are potential targets for synergizing with immune checkpoint blockade. Given the breadth of potential targets in the immune system, critical questions to address include which combinations should move forward in development and which patients will benefit from these treatments. This Review discusses the leading drug targets that are expressed on tumour cells and in the tumour microenvironment that allow enhancement of the antitumour immune response.
The microsatellite instable (MSI) subset of colorectal cancer exhibits an active Th1/CTL immune microenvironment, probably due to recognition of a high number of tumor neoantigens. However, the high ...expression of checkpoint molecules PD-1, PD-L1, CTLA-4, LAG-3, and IDO in MSI colorectal cancer distinguishes MSI from microsatellite stable colorectal cancer and creates an immunosuppressive microenvironment that may help MSI tumors evade immune destruction by the infiltrating immune cells. Though colorectal cancer does not have a good response rate to PD-1 pathway immunotherapy, these results suggest that the MSI subset of colorectal cancer is a particularly good candidate for checkpoint immunotherapy.
Immune responses need to be controlled for optimal protective immunity and tolerance. Coinhibitory pathways in the B7-CD28 family provide critical inhibitory signals that regulate immune homeostasis ...and defense and protect tissue integrity. These coinhibitory signals limit the strength and duration of immune responses, thereby curbing immune-mediated tissue damage, regulating resolution of inflammation, and maintaining tolerance to prevent autoimmunity. Tumors and microbes that cause chronic infections can exploit these coinhibitory pathways to establish an immunosuppressive microenvironment, hindering their eradication. Advances in understanding T cell coinhibitory pathways have stimulated a new era of immunotherapy with effective drugs to treat cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases, and transplant rejection. In this review we discuss the current knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the coinhibitory functions of pathways in the B7-CD28 family, the diverse functional consequences of these inhibitory signals on immune responses, and the overlapping and unique functions of these key immunoregulatory pathways.
Coinhibitory pathways in the B7-CD28 family provide critical inhibitory signals that regulate immune homeostasis and defense. Sharpe and colleagues discuss the current understanding of mechanisms underlying the coinhibitory functions of pathways in the B7-CD28 family, their functional consequences, and their overlapping and unique functions.
The interaction of programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PDL1) with its receptor programmed cell death 1 (PD1) inhibits T cell responses, and blockade of this interaction has proven to be an effective ...immunotherapy for several different cancers. PDL1 can be expressed on the surface of tumour cells, immune cells and other cells in the tumour microenvironment but is also found in extracellular forms. Recent studies have explored the importance of different forms of extracellular PDL1, such as on exosomes or as a freely soluble protein, and have shown that PDL1-expressing exosomes can inhibit antitumour immune responses. In patients with melanoma, exosomal PDL1 is also a marker of immune activation early after initiation of therapy with PD1-blocking antibodies and predicts a clinical response to PD1 blockade. In this Progress article, we highlight recent insights into the role of exosomal PDL1 in immune oncology and how it may be useful as a biomarker for the management of cancer or to define a subset of patients who would benefit from therapeutics that block exosome production.
The immune system is capable of recognizing tumors and eliminates many early malignant cells. However, tumors evolve to evade immune attack, and the tumor microenvironment is immunosuppressive. ...Immune responses are regulated by a number of immunological checkpoints that promote protective immunity and maintain tolerance. T cell coinhibitory pathways restrict the strength and duration of immune responses, thereby limiting immune-mediated tissue damage, controlling resolution of inflammation, and maintaining tolerance to prevent autoimmunity. Tumors exploit these coinhibitory pathways to evade immune eradication. Blockade of the PD-1 and CTLA-4 checkpoints is proving to be an effective and durable cancer immunotherapy in a subset of patients with a variety of tumor types, and additional combinations are further improving response rates. In this review we discuss the immunoregulatory functions of coinhibitory pathways and their translation to effective immunotherapies for cancer.
The tumor microenvironment mediates induction of the immunosuppressive programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) pathway, and targeted interventions against this pathway can help restore antitumor immunity. To ...gain insight into these responses, we studied the interaction between PD-1 expressed on T cells and its ligands (PD-1:PD-L1, PD-1:PD-L2, and PD-L1:B7.1), expressed on other cells in the tumor microenvironment, using a syngeneic orthotopic mouse model of epithelial ovarian cancer (ID8). Exhaustion of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) correlated with expression of PD-1 ligands by tumor cells and tumor-derived myeloid cells, including tumor-associated macrophages (TAM), dendritic cells, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC). When combined with GVAX or FVAX vaccination (consisting of irradiated ID8 cells expressing granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor or FLT3 ligand) and costimulation by agonistic α-4-1BB or TLR 9 ligand, antibody-mediated blockade of PD-1 or PD-L1 triggered rejection of ID8 tumors in 75% of tumor-bearing mice. This therapeutic effect was associated with increased proliferation and function of tumor antigen-specific effector CD8(+) T cells, inhibition of suppressive regulatory T cells (Treg) and MDSC, upregulation of effector T-cell signaling molecules, and generation of T memory precursor cells. Overall, PD-1/PD-L1 blockade enhanced the amplitude of tumor immunity by reprogramming suppressive and stimulatory signals that yielded more powerful cancer control.
Treatments that target immune checkpoints, such as the one mediated by programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and its ligand PD-L1, have been approved for treating human cancers with durable clinical ...benefit. However, many patients with cancer fail to respond to compounds that target the PD-1 and PD-L1 interaction, and the underlying mechanism(s) is not well understood. Recent studies revealed that response to PD-1-PD-L1 blockade might correlate with PD-L1 expression levels in tumour cells. Hence, it is important to understand the mechanistic pathways that control PD-L1 protein expression and stability, which can offer a molecular basis to improve the clinical response rate and efficacy of PD-1-PD-L1 blockade in patients with cancer. Here we show that PD-L1 protein abundance is regulated by cyclin D-CDK4 and the cullin 3-SPOP E3 ligase via proteasome-mediated degradation. Inhibition of CDK4 and CDK6 (hereafter CDK4/6) in vivo increases PD-L1 protein levels by impeding cyclin D-CDK4-mediated phosphorylation of speckle-type POZ protein (SPOP) and thereby promoting SPOP degradation by the anaphase-promoting complex activator FZR1. Loss-of-function mutations in SPOP compromise ubiquitination-mediated PD-L1 degradation, leading to increased PD-L1 levels and reduced numbers of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes in mouse tumours and in primary human prostate cancer specimens. Notably, combining CDK4/6 inhibitor treatment with anti-PD-1 immunotherapy enhances tumour regression and markedly improves overall survival rates in mouse tumour models. Our study uncovers a novel molecular mechanism for regulating PD-L1 protein stability by a cell cycle kinase and reveals the potential for using combination treatment with CDK4/6 inhibitors and PD-1-PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade to enhance therapeutic efficacy for human cancers.
Despite compelling rates of durable clinical responses to programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) blockade, advances are needed to extend these benefits to resistant tumors. We found that tumor-bearing mice ...deficient in the chemokine receptor CXCR3 responded poorly to anti-PD-1 treatment. CXCR3 and its ligand CXCL9 were critical for a productive CD8+ T cell response in tumor-bearing mice treated with anti-PD-1 but were not required for the infiltration of CD8+ T cells into tumors. The anti-PD-1-induced anti-tumor response was facilitated by CXCL9 production from intratumoral CD103+ dendritic cells, suggesting that CXCR3 facilitates dendritic cell-T cell interactions within the tumor microenvironment. CXCR3 ligands in murine tumors and in plasma of melanoma patients were an indicator of clinical response to anti-PD-1, and their induction in non-responsive murine tumors promoted responsiveness to anti-PD-1. Our data suggest that the CXCR3 chemokine system is a biomarker for sensitivity to PD-1 blockade and that augmenting the intratumoral function of this chemokine system could improve clinical outcomes.
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•Anti-PD-1 efficacy depends on intratumoral activity of the CXCR3 chemokine system•CD103+ dendritic-cell-derived CXCL9 and CXCR3 on CD8+ T cells are required•CXCR3 ligands are positive indicators of responsiveness to anti-PD-1 therapy•Inducing CXCR3 ligands in non-responsive tumors restores sensitivity to anti-PD-1
Chow et al. find the CXCR3 chemokine system is not required for CD8+ T cell migration into the tumor, but rather for the enhancement of the intratumoral CD8+ T cell response in the context of PD-1 blockade. The CXCR3 chemokine system might serve as a biomarker for sensitivity to PD-1 blockade and a target for improving clinical outcomes.
Human T-cell Immunoglobulin and Mucin-domain containing proteins (TIM1, 3, and 4) specifically bind phosphatidylserine (PS). TIM1 has been proposed to serve as a cellular receptor for hepatitis A ...virus and Ebola virus and as an entry factor for dengue virus. Here we show that TIM1 promotes infection of retroviruses and virus-like particles (VLPs) pseudotyped with a range of viral entry proteins, in particular those from the filovirus, flavivirus, New World arenavirus and alphavirus families. TIM1 also robustly enhanced the infection of replication-competent viruses from the same families, including dengue, Tacaribe, Sindbis and Ross River viruses. All interactions between TIM1 and pseudoviruses or VLPs were PS-mediated, as demonstrated with liposome blocking and TIM1 mutagenesis experiments. In addition, other PS-binding proteins, such as Axl and TIM4, promoted infection similarly to TIM1. Finally, the blocking of PS receptors on macrophages inhibited the entry of Ebola VLPs, suggesting that PS receptors can contribute to infection in physiologically relevant cells. Notably, infection mediated by the entry proteins of Lassa fever virus, influenza A virus and SARS coronavirus was largely unaffected by TIM1 expression. Taken together our data show that TIM1 and related PS-binding proteins promote infection of diverse families of enveloped viruses, and may therefore be useful targets for broad-spectrum antiviral therapies.
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