Evidence from mouse chronic viral infection models suggests that CD8
T cell subsets characterized by distinct expression levels of the receptor PD-1 diverge in their state of exhaustion and potential ...for reinvigoration by PD-1 blockade. However, it remains unknown whether T cells in human cancer adopt a similar spectrum of exhausted states based on PD-1 expression levels. We compared transcriptional, metabolic and functional signatures of intratumoral CD8
T lymphocyte populations with high (PD-1
), intermediate (PD-1
) and no PD-1 expression (PD-1
) from non-small-cell lung cancer patients. PD-1
T cells showed a markedly different transcriptional and metabolic profile from PD-1
and PD-1
lymphocytes, as well as an intrinsically high capacity for tumor recognition. Furthermore, while PD-1
lymphocytes were impaired in classical effector cytokine production, they produced CXCL13, which mediates immune cell recruitment to tertiary lymphoid structures. Strikingly, the presence of PD-1
cells was strongly predictive for both response and survival in a small cohort of non-small-cell lung cancer patients treated with PD-1 blockade. The characterization of a distinct state of tumor-reactive, PD-1-bright lymphocytes in human cancer, which only partially resembles that seen in chronic infection, provides potential avenues for therapeutic intervention.
Tumor organoid-T-cell coculture systems Cattaneo, Chiara M; Dijkstra, Krijn K; Fanchi, Lorenzo F ...
Nature protocols,
01/2020, Volume:
15, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
T cells are key players in cancer immunotherapy, but strategies to expand tumor-reactive cells and study their interactions with tumor cells at the level of an individual patient are limited. Here we ...describe the generation and functional assessment of tumor-reactive T cells based on cocultures of tumor organoids and autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes. The procedure consists of an initial coculture of 2 weeks, in which tumor-reactive T cells are first expanded in the presence of (IFNγ-stimulated) autologous tumor cells. Subsequently, T cells are evaluated for their capacity to carry out effector functions (IFNγ secretion and degranulation) after recognition of tumor cells, and their capacity to kill tumor organoids. This strategy is unique in its use of peripheral blood as a source of tumor-reactive T cells in an antigen-agnostic manner. In 2 weeks, tumor-reactive CD8
T-cell populations can be obtained from ~33-50% of samples from patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and microsatellite-instable colorectal cancer (CRC). This enables the establishment of ex vivo test systems for T-cell-based immunotherapy at the level of the individual patient.
Cancer immunotherapies have shown substantial clinical activity for a subset of patients with epithelial cancers. Still, technological platforms to study cancer T-cell interactions for individual ...patients and understand determinants of responsiveness are presently lacking. Here, we establish and validate a platform to induce and analyze tumor-specific T cell responses to epithelial cancers in a personalized manner. We demonstrate that co-cultures of autologous tumor organoids and peripheral blood lymphocytes can be used to enrich tumor-reactive T cells from peripheral blood of patients with mismatch repair-deficient colorectal cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these T cells can be used to assess the efficiency of killing of matched tumor organoids. This platform provides an unbiased strategy for the isolation of tumor-reactive T cells and provides a means by which to assess the sensitivity of tumor cells to T cell-mediated attack at the level of the individual patient.
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•Induction of tumor-reactive T cells by co-culture of PBMCs and tumor organoids•Induced T cell populations do not recognize healthy organoids or tissue•This platform can be used to assess the efficiency of T-cell-mediated tumor killing
A modified patient-derived tumor organoids system allows the expansion of tumor-specific T cells from blood for personalized analysis of their anti-cancer properties.
Dysregulation of YAP localization and activity is associated with pathological conditions such as cancer. Although activation of the Hippo phosphorylation cascade is known to cause cytoplasmic ...retention and inactivation of YAP, emerging evidence suggests that YAP can be regulated in a Hippo-independent manner. Here, we report that YAP is subject to non-proteolytic, K63-linked polyubiquitination by the SCF
E3 ligase complex (SKP2), which is reversed by the deubiquitinase OTUD1. The non-proteolytic ubiquitination of YAP enhances its interaction with its nuclear binding partner TEAD, thereby inducing YAP's nuclear localization, transcriptional activity, and growth-promoting function. Independently of Hippo signaling, mutation of YAP's K63-linkage specific ubiquitination sites K321 and K497, depletion of SKP2, or overexpression of OTUD1 retains YAP in the cytoplasm and inhibits its activity. Conversely, overexpression of SKP2 or loss of OTUD1 leads to nuclear localization and activation of YAP. Altogether, our study sheds light on the ubiquitination-mediated, Hippo-independent regulation of YAP.
Distinct types of CD4+ T cells protect the host against different classes of pathogens. However, it is unclear whether a given pathogen induces a single type of polarized T cell. By combining ...antigenic stimulation and T cell receptor deep sequencing, we found that human pathogen- and vaccine-specific T helper 1 (TH1), TH2, and TH17 memory cells have different frequencies but comparable diversity and comprise not only clones polarized toward a single fate, but also clones whose progeny have acquired multiple fates. Single naïve T cells primed by a pathogen in vitro could also give rise to multiple fates. Our results unravel an unexpected degree of interclonal and intraclonal functional heterogeneity of the human T cell response and suggest that polarized responses result from preferential expansion rather than priming.
Accumulating evidence suggests that clinically efficacious cancer immunotherapies are driven by T cell reactivity against DNA mutation–derived neoantigens. However, among the large number of ...predicted neoantigens, only a minority is recognized by autologous patient T cells, and strategies to broaden neoantigen-specific T cell responses are therefore attractive. We found that naïve T cell repertoires of healthy blood donors provide a source of neoantigen-specific T cells, responding to 11 of 57 predicted human leukocyte antigen (HLA)–A*02:01–binding epitopes from three patients. Many of the T cell reactivities involved epitopes that in vivo were neglected by patient autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Finally, T cells redirected with T cell receptors identified from donor-derived T cells efficiently recognized patient-derived melanoma cells harboring the relevant mutations, providing a rationale for the use of such "outsourced" immune responses in cancer immunotherapy.
Peptide splicing, in which two distant parts of a protein are excised and then ligated to form a novel peptide, can generate unique MHC class I-restricted responses. Because these peptides are not ...genetically encoded and the rules behind proteasomal splicing are unknown, it is difficult to predict these spliced Ags. In the current study, small libraries of short peptides were used to identify amino acid sequences that affect the efficiency of this transpeptidation process. We observed that splicing does not occur at random, neither in terms of the amino acid sequences nor through random splicing of peptides from different sources. In contrast, splicing followed distinct rules that we deduced and validated both in vitro and in cells. Peptide ligation was quantified using a model peptide and demonstrated to occur with up to 30% ligation efficiency in vitro, provided that optimal structural requirements for ligation were met by both ligating partners. In addition, many splicing products could be formed from a single protein. Our splicing rules will facilitate prediction and detection of new spliced Ags to expand the peptidome presented by MHC class I Ags.
Preoperative immunotherapy with anti-PD1 plus anti-CTLA4 antibodies has shown remarkable pathological responses in melanoma
and colorectal cancer
. In NABUCCO (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03387761 ), a ...single-arm feasibility trial, 24 patients with stage III urothelial cancer (UC) received two doses of ipilimumab and two doses of nivolumab, followed by resection. The primary endpoint was feasibility to resect within 12 weeks from treatment start. All patients were evaluable for the study endpoints and underwent resection, 23 (96%) within 12 weeks. Grade 3-4 immune-related adverse events occurred in 55% of patients and in 41% of patients when excluding clinically insignificant laboratory abnormalities. Eleven patients (46%) had a pathological complete response (pCR), meeting the secondary efficacy endpoint. Fourteen patients (58%) had no remaining invasive disease (pCR or pTisN0/pTaN0). In contrast to studies with anti-PD1/PD-L1 monotherapy, complete response to ipilimumab plus nivolumab was independent of baseline CD8
presence or T-effector signatures. Induction of tertiary lymphoid structures upon treatment was observed in responding patients. Our data indicate that combined CTLA-4 plus PD-1 blockade might provide an effective preoperative treatment strategy in locoregionally advanced UC, irrespective of pre-existing CD8
T cell activity.
Tumor-specific neo-antigens that arise as a consequence of mutations are thought to be important for the therapeutic efficacy of cancer immunotherapies. Accumulating evidence suggests that ...neo-antigens may be commonly recognized by intratumoral CD8+ T cells, but it is unclear whether neo-antigen-specific CD4+ T cells also frequently reside within human tumors. In view of the accepted role of tumor-specific CD4+ T-cell responses in tumor control, we addressed whether neo-antigen-specific CD4+ T-cell reactivity is a common property in human melanoma.
Cancer-associated systemic inflammation is strongly linked to poor disease outcome in patients with cancer
. For most human epithelial tumour types, high systemic neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios are ...associated with poor overall survival
, and experimental studies have demonstrated a causal relationship between neutrophils and metastasis
. However, the cancer-cell-intrinsic mechanisms that dictate the substantial heterogeneity in systemic neutrophilic inflammation between tumour-bearing hosts are largely unresolved. Here, using a panel of 16 distinct genetically engineered mouse models for breast cancer, we uncover a role for cancer-cell-intrinsic p53 as a key regulator of pro-metastatic neutrophils. Mechanistically, loss of p53 in cancer cells induced the secretion of WNT ligands that stimulate tumour-associated macrophages to produce IL-1β, thus driving systemic inflammation. Pharmacological and genetic blockade of WNT secretion in p53-null cancer cells reverses macrophage production of IL-1β and subsequent neutrophilic inflammation, resulting in reduced metastasis formation. Collectively, we demonstrate a mechanistic link between the loss of p53 in cancer cells, secretion of WNT ligands and systemic neutrophilia that potentiates metastatic progression. These insights illustrate the importance of the genetic makeup of breast tumours in dictating pro-metastatic systemic inflammation, and set the stage for personalized immune intervention strategies for patients with cancer.
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