| First Author | van Gulijk M | Year | 2023 |
| Journal | Sci Immunol | Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 83 | Pages | eabn6173 |
| PubMed ID | 37205768 | Mgi Jnum | J:355504 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7715008 | Doi | 10.1126/sciimmunol.abn6173 |
| Citation | van Gulijk M, et al. (2023) PD-L1 checkpoint blockade promotes regulatory T cell activity that underlies therapy resistance. Sci Immunol 8(83):eabn6173 |
| abstractText | Despite the clinical success of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), in certain cancer types, most patients with cancer do not respond well. Furthermore, in patients for whom ICB is initially successful, this is often short-lived because of the development of resistance to ICB. The mechanisms underlying primary or secondary ICB resistance are incompletely understood. Here, we identified preferential activation and enhanced suppressive capacity of regulatory T cells (T(reg) cells) in alphaPD-L1 therapy-resistant solid tumor-bearing mice. T(reg) cell depletion reversed resistance to alphaPD-L1 with concomitant expansion of effector T cells. Moreover, we found that tumor-infiltrating T(reg) cells in human patients with skin cancer, and in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, up-regulated a suppressive transcriptional gene program after ICB treatment, which correlated with lack of treatment response. alphaPD-1/PD-L1-induced PD-1(+) T(reg) cell activation was also seen in peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer and mesothelioma, especially in nonresponders. Together, these data reveal that treatment with alphaPD-1 and alphaPD-L1 unleashes the immunosuppressive role of T(reg) cells, resulting in therapy resistance, suggesting that T(reg) cell targeting is an important adjunct strategy to enhance therapeutic efficacy. |
