[HTML][HTML] Blocking the recruitment of naive CD4+ T cells reverses immunosuppression in breast cancer

S Su, J Liao, J Liu, D Huang, C He, F Chen, LB Yang… - Cell research, 2017 - nature.com
S Su, J Liao, J Liu, D Huang, C He, F Chen, LB Yang, W Wu, J Chen, L Lin, Y Zeng…
Cell research, 2017nature.com
The origin of tumor-infiltrating Tregs, critical mediators of tumor immunosuppression, is
unclear. Here, we show that tumor-infiltrating naive CD4+ T cells and Tregs in human breast
cancer have overlapping TCR repertoires, while hardly overlap with circulating Tregs,
suggesting that intratumoral Tregs mainly develop from naive T cells in situ rather than from
recruited Tregs. Furthermore, the abundance of naive CD4+ T cells and Tregs is closely
correlated, both indicating poor prognosis for breast cancer patients. Naive CD4+ T cells …
Abstract
The origin of tumor-infiltrating Tregs, critical mediators of tumor immunosuppression, is unclear. Here, we show that tumor-infiltrating naive CD4+ T cells and Tregs in human breast cancer have overlapping TCR repertoires, while hardly overlap with circulating Tregs, suggesting that intratumoral Tregs mainly develop from naive T cells in situ rather than from recruited Tregs. Furthermore, the abundance of naive CD4+ T cells and Tregs is closely correlated, both indicating poor prognosis for breast cancer patients. Naive CD4+ T cells adhere to tumor slices in proportion to the abundance of CCL18-producing macrophages. Moreover, adoptively transferred human naive CD4+ T cells infiltrate human breast cancer orthotopic xenografts in a CCL18-dependent manner. In human breast cancer xenografts in humanized mice, blocking the recruitment of naive CD4+ T cells into tumor by knocking down the expression of PITPNM3, a CCL18 receptor, significantly reduces intratumoral Tregs and inhibits tumor progression. These findings suggest that breast tumor-infiltrating Tregs arise from chemotaxis of circulating naive CD4+ T cells that differentiate into Tregs in situ. Inhibiting naive CD4+ T cell recruitment into tumors by interfering with PITPNM3 recognition of CCL18 may be an attractive strategy for anticancer immunotherapy.
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