| First Author | Romine KA | Year | 2023 |
| Journal | Leukemia | Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 580-592 |
| PubMed ID | 36681742 | Mgi Jnum | J:333989 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7444577 | Doi | 10.1038/s41375-023-01808-0 |
| Citation | Romine KA, et al. (2023) BET inhibitors rescue anti-PD1 resistance by enhancing TCF7 accessibility in leukemia-derived terminally exhausted CD8(+) T cells. Leukemia 37(3):580-592 |
| abstractText | Many acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients exhibit hallmarks of immune exhaustion, such as increased myeloid-derived suppressor cells, suppressive regulatory T cells and dysfunctional T cells. Similarly, we have identified the same immune-related features, including exhausted CD8(+) T cells (TEx) in a mouse model of AML. Here we show that inhibitors that target bromodomain and extra-terminal domain (BET) proteins affect tumor-intrinsic factors but also rescue T cell exhaustion and ICB resistance. Ex vivo treatment of cells from AML mice and AML patients with BET inhibitors (BETi) reversed CD8(+) T cell exhaustion by restoring proliferative capacity and expansion of the more functional precursor-exhausted T cells. This reversal was enhanced by combined BETi and anti-PD1 treatment. BETi synergized with anti-PD1 in vivo, resulting in the reduction of circulating leukemia cells, enrichment of CD8(+) T cells in the bone marrow, and increase in expression of Tcf7, Slamf6, and Cxcr5 in CD8(+) T cells. Finally, we profiled the epigenomes of in vivo JQ1-treated AML-derived CD8(+) T cells by single-cell ATAC-seq and found that JQ1 increases Tcf7 accessibility specifically in Tex cells, suggesting that BETi likely acts mechanistically by relieving repression of progenitor programs in Tex CD8(+) T cells and maintaining a pool of anti-PD1 responsive CD8(+) T cells. |
