Human γδ T cell sensing of AMPK-dependent metabolic tumor reprogramming through TCR recognition of EphA2

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (61) ◽  
pp. eaba9010
Author(s):  
Christelle Harly ◽  
Stephen Paul Joyce ◽  
Charlotte Domblides ◽  
Thomas Bachelet ◽  
Vincent Pitard ◽  
...  

Human γδ T cells contribute to tissue homeostasis and participate in epithelial stress surveillance through mechanisms that are not well understood. Here, we identified ephrin type-A receptor 2 (EphA2) as a stress antigen recognized by a human Vγ9Vδ1 TCR. EphA2 is recognized coordinately by ephrin A to enable γδ TCR activation. We identified a putative TCR binding site on the ligand-binding domain of EphA2 that was distinct from the ephrin A binding site. Expression of EphA2 was up-regulated upon AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)–dependent metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells, and coexpression of EphA2 and active AMPK in tumors was associated with higher CD3 T cell infiltration in human colorectal cancer tissue. These results highlight the potential of the human γδ TCR to cooperate with a co-receptor to recognize non–MHC-encoded proteins as signals of cellular dysregulation, potentially allowing γδ T cells to sense metabolic energy changes associated with either viral infection or cancer.

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 765
Author(s):  
Florence Boissière-Michot ◽  
Ghita Chabab ◽  
Caroline Mollevi ◽  
Séverine Guiu ◽  
Evelyne Lopez-Crapez ◽  
...  

The prognostic impact of the different tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) subpopulations in solid cancers is still debated. Here, we investigated the clinicopathological correlates and prognostic impact of TILs, particularly of γδ T cells, in 162 patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). A high γδ T cell density (>6.625 γδ T cells/mm2) was associated with younger age (p = 0.008), higher tumor histological grade (p = 0.002), adjuvant chemotherapy (p = 0.010), BRCA1 promoter methylation (p = 0.010), TIL density (p < 0.001), and PD-L1 (p < 0.001) and PD-1 expression (p = 0.040). In multivariate analyses, γδ T cell infiltration (cutoff = 6.625 γδ T cells/mm2) was an independent prognostic factor (5-year relapse-free survival: 63.3% vs. 89.8%, p = 0.027; 5-year overall survival: 73.8% vs. 89.9%, p = 0.031, for low vs. high infiltration). This prognostic impact varied according to the tumor PIK3CA mutational status. High γδ T cell infiltration was associated with better survival in patients with PIK3CA wild-type tumors, but the difference was not significant in the subgroup with PIK3CA-mutated tumors. Altogether, these data suggest that high γδ T cell infiltrate is correlated with immune infiltration and might represent a candidate prognostic tool in patients with TNBC.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 728
Author(s):  
Guy Werlen ◽  
Ritika Jain ◽  
Estela Jacinto

The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) controls cell fate and responses via its functions in regulating metabolism. Its role in controlling immunity was unraveled by early studies on the immunosuppressive properties of rapamycin. Recent studies have provided insights on how metabolic reprogramming and mTOR signaling impact peripheral T cell activation and fate. The contribution of mTOR and metabolism during early T-cell development in the thymus is also emerging and is the subject of this review. Two major T lineages with distinct immune functions and peripheral homing organs diverge during early thymic development; the αβ- and γδ-T cells, which are defined by their respective TCR subunits. Thymic T-regulatory cells, which have immunosuppressive functions, also develop in the thymus from positively selected αβ-T cells. Here, we review recent findings on how the two mTOR protein complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2, and the signaling molecules involved in the mTOR pathway are involved in thymocyte differentiation. We discuss emerging views on how metabolic remodeling impacts early T cell development and how this can be mediated via mTOR signaling.


2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meenakshi Rani ◽  
Qiong Zhang ◽  
Michael R Scherer ◽  
Andrew P Cap ◽  
Martin G Schwacha

Author(s):  
Le-Minh Dao ◽  
Marie-Luise Machule ◽  
Petra Bacher ◽  
Julius Hoffmann ◽  
Lam-Thanh Ly ◽  
...  

AbstractAnti-N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is the most common autoimmune encephalitis with psychosis, amnesia, seizures and dyskinesias. The disease is mediated by pathogenic autoantibodies against the NR1 subunit that disrupt NMDAR function. Antibody infusion into mouse brains can recapitulate encephalitis symptoms, while active immunization resulted also in strong T cell infiltration into the hippocampus. However, whether T cells react against NMDAR and their specific contribution to disease development are poorly understood. Here we characterized the ex vivo frequency and phenotype of circulating CD4+ T helper (TH) cells reactive to NR1 protein using antigen-reactive T cell enrichment (ARTE) in 24 patients with NMDAR encephalitis, 13 patients with LGI1 encephalitis and 51 matched controls. Unexpectedly, patients with NMDAR encephalitis had lower frequencies of CD154-expressing NR1-reactive TH cells than healthy controls and produced significantly less inflammatory cytokines. No difference was seen in T cells reactive to the synaptic target LGI1 (Leucine-rich glioma-inactivated 1), ubiquitous Candida antigens or neoantigens, suggesting that the findings are disease-specific and not related to therapeutic immunosuppression. Also, patients with LGI1 encephalitis showed unaltered numbers of LGI1 antigen-reactive T cells. The data reveal disease-specific functional alterations of circulating NMDAR-reactive TH cells in patients with NMDAR encephalitis and challenge the idea that increased pro-inflammatory NMDAR-reactive T cells contribute to disease pathogenesis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. A52-A52
Author(s):  
Elen Torres ◽  
Stefani Spranger

BackgroundUnderstanding the interactions between tumor and immune cells is critical for improving current immunotherapies. Pre-clinical and clinical evidence has shown that failed T cell infiltration into lung cancer lesions might be associated with low responsiveness towards checkpoint blockade.1 For this reason, it is necessary to characterize not only the phenotype of T cells in tumor-bearing lungs but also their spatial location in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Multiplex immunofluorescence staining allows the simultaneous use of several cell markers to study the state and the spatial location of cell populations in the tissue of interest. Although this technique is usually applied to thin tissue sections (5 to 12 µm), the analysis of large tissue volumes may provide a better understanding of the spatial distribution of cells in relation to the TME. Here, we analyzed the number and spatial distribution of cytotoxic T cells and other immune cells in the TME of tumor-bearing lungs, using both 12 µm sections and whole-mount preparations imaged by confocal microscopy.MethodsLung tumors were induced in C57BL/6 mice by tail vein injection of a cancer cell line derived from KrasG12D/+ and Tp53-/- mice. Lung tissue with a diverse degree of T cell infiltration was collected after 21 days post tumor induction. Tissue was fixed in 4% PFA, followed by snap-frozen for sectioning. Whole-mount preparations were processed according to Weizhe Li et al. (2019) 2 for tissue clearing and multiplex volume imaging. T cells were labeled with CD8 and FOXP3 antibodies to identify cytotoxic or regulatory T cells, respectively. Tumor cells were labeled with a pan-Keratin antibody. Images were acquired using a Leica SP8 confocal microscope. FIJI3 and IMARIS were used for image processing.ResultsWe identified both cytotoxic and regulatory T cell populations in the TME using thin sections and whole-mount. However, using whole-mount after tissue clearing allowed us to better evaluate the spatial distribution of the T cell populations in relation to the tumor structure. Furthermore, tissue clearance facilitates the imaging of larger volumes using multiplex immunofluorescence.ConclusionsAnalysis of large lung tissue volumes provides a better understanding of the location of immune cell populations in relation to the TME and allows to study heterogeneous immune infiltration on a per-lesion base. This valuable information will improve the characterization of the TME and the definition of cancer-immune phenotypes in NSCLC.ReferencesTeng MW, et al., Classifying cancers based on T-cell infiltration and PD-L1. Cancer Res 2015;75(11): p. 2139–45.Li W, Germain RN, and Gerner MY. High-dimensional cell-level analysis of tissues with Ce3D multiplex volume imaging. Nat Protoc 2019;14(6): p. 1708–1733.Schindelin J, et al, Fiji: an open-source platform for biological-image analysis. Nat Methods 2012;9(7): p. 676–82.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 743
Author(s):  
Aleksei Titov ◽  
Ekaterina Zmievskaya ◽  
Irina Ganeeva ◽  
Aygul Valiullina ◽  
Alexey Petukhov ◽  
...  

Adoptive cell immunotherapy (ACT) is a vibrant field of cancer treatment that began progressive development in the 1980s. One of the most prominent and promising examples is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy for the treatment of B-cell hematologic malignancies. Despite success in the treatment of B-cell lymphomas and leukemia, CAR T-cell therapy remains mostly ineffective for solid tumors. This is due to several reasons, such as the heterogeneity of the cellular composition in solid tumors, the need for directed migration and penetration of CAR T-cells against the pressure gradient in the tumor stroma, and the immunosuppressive microenvironment. To substantially improve the clinical efficacy of ACT against solid tumors, researchers might need to look closer into recent developments in the other branches of adoptive immunotherapy, both traditional and innovative. In this review, we describe the variety of adoptive cell therapies beyond CAR T-cell technology, i.e., exploitation of alternative cell sources with a high therapeutic potential against solid tumors (e.g., CAR M-cells) or aiming to be universal allogeneic (e.g., CAR NK-cells, γδ T-cells), tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and transgenic T-cell receptor (TCR) T-cell immunotherapies. In addition, we discuss the strategies for selection and validation of neoantigens to achieve efficiency and safety. We provide an overview of non-conventional TCRs and CARs, and address the problem of mispairing between the cognate and transgenic TCRs. Finally, we summarize existing and emerging approaches for manufacturing of the therapeutic cell products in traditional, semi-automated and fully automated Point-of-Care (PoC) systems.


Author(s):  
Kristen Orumaa ◽  
Margaret R. Dunne

AbstractCOVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first documented in late 2019, but within months, a worldwide pandemic was declared due to the easily transmissible nature of the virus. Research to date on the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 has focused largely on conventional B and T lymphocytes. This review examines the emerging role of unconventional T cell subsets, including γδ T cells, invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells and mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells in human SARS-CoV-2 infection.Some of these T cell subsets have been shown to play protective roles in anti-viral immunity by suppressing viral replication and opsonising virions of SARS-CoV. Here, we explore whether unconventional T cells play a protective role in SARS-CoV-2 infection as well. Unconventional T cells are already under investigation as cell-based immunotherapies for cancer. We discuss the potential use of these cells as therapeutic agents in the COVID-19 setting. Due to the rapidly evolving situation presented by COVID-19, there is an urgent need to understand the pathogenesis of this disease and the mechanisms underlying its immune response. Through this, we may be able to better help those with severe cases and lower the mortality rate by devising more effective vaccines and novel treatment strategies.


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