First Author | Luu M | Year | 2021 |
Journal | Nat Commun | Volume | 12 |
Issue | 1 | Pages | 4077 |
PubMed ID | 34210970 | Mgi Jnum | J:320582 |
Mgi Id | MGI:6725599 | Doi | 10.1038/s41467-021-24331-1 |
Citation | Luu M, et al. (2021) Microbial short-chain fatty acids modulate CD8(+) T cell responses and improve adoptive immunotherapy for cancer. Nat Commun 12(1):4077 |
abstractText | Emerging data demonstrate that the activity of immune cells can be modulated by microbial molecules. Here, we show that the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) pentanoate and butyrate enhance the anti-tumor activity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells through metabolic and epigenetic reprograming. We show that in vitro treatment of CTLs and CAR T cells with pentanoate and butyrate increases the function of mTOR as a central cellular metabolic sensor, and inhibits class I histone deacetylase activity. This reprogramming results in elevated production of effector molecules such as CD25, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha, and significantly enhances the anti-tumor activity of antigen-specific CTLs and ROR1-targeting CAR T cells in syngeneic murine melanoma and pancreatic cancer models. Our data shed light onto microbial molecules that may be used for enhancing cellular anti-tumor immunity. Collectively, we identify pentanoate and butyrate as two SCFAs with therapeutic utility in the context of cellular cancer immunotherapy. |