No abstract

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a critical role in the maintenance of immunological self-tolerance. Naïve human or murine T cell treatment with the inhibitory cytokine IL-35 induces a regulatory population, termed iTR35, that mediates suppression via IL-35, but not IL-10 or TGFβ, neither express nor require Foxp3, are strongly suppressive in five in vivo models, and exhibit in vivo stability. Treg-mediated suppression induces iTR35 generation in an IL-35- and IL-10-dependent manner in vitro, and in inflammatory conditions in vivo in Trichuris-infected intestines and within the tumor microenvironment, where they appear to contribute to the regulatory milieu. iTR35 may constitute a key mediator of infectious tolerance, may contribute to Treg-mediated tumor progression, and ex vivo generated iTR35 may possess therapeutic utility.

Concomitant tumor immunity describes immune responses in a host with a progressive tumor that rejects the same tumor at a remote site. In this work, concomitant tumor immunity was investigated in mice bearing poorly immunogenic B16 melanoma. Progression of B16 tumors did not spontaneously elicit concomitant immunity. However, depletion of CD4 ϩ T cells in tumor-bearing mice resulted in CD8 ϩ T cell-mediated rejection of challenge tumors given on day 6. Concomitant immunity was also elicited by treatment with cyclophosphamide or DTA-1 monoclonal antibody against the glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor. Immunity elicited by B16 melanoma cross-reacted with a distinct syngeneic melanoma, but not with nonmelanoma tumors. Furthermore, CD8 ϩ T cells from mice with concomitant immunity specifically responded to major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted epitopes of two melanocyte differentiation antigens. RAG1 ϪրϪ mice adoptively transferred with CD8 ϩ and CD4 ϩ T cells lacking the CD4 ϩ CD25 ϩ compartment mounted robust concomitant immunity, which was suppressed by readdition of CD4 ϩ CD25 ϩ cells. Naturally occurring CD4 ϩ CD25 ϩ T cells efficiently suppressed concomitant immunity mediated by previously activated CD8 ϩ T cells, demonstrating that precursor regulatory T cells in naive hosts give rise to effective suppressors. These results show that regulatory T cells are the major regulators of concomitant tumor immunity against this weakly immunogenic tumor.

PD-L1 antibodies produce efficacious clinical responses in diverse human cancers, but the basis for their effects remains unclear, leaving a gap in understanding of how to rationally leverage the therapeutic activity. PD-L1 is widely expressed in tumor cells but its contributions to tumor pathogenicity are incompletely understood. In this study, we evaluated the hypothesis that PD-L1 exerts tumor cell-intrinsic signals that are critical for pathogenesis. Using RNAi methodology, we attenuated PD-L1 in the murine ovarian cell line ID8agg and the melanoma cell line B16 (termed PD-L1lo cells), which express basal PD-L1. We observed that PD-L1lo cells proliferated more weakly than control cells in vitro. As expected, PD-L1lo cells formed tumors in immunocompetent mice relatively more slowly, but unexpectedly, they also formed tumors more slowly in immunodeficient NSG mice. A comparative microarray analysis identified a number of genes involved in autophagy and mTOR signaling that were affected by PD-L1 expression. In support of a functional role, PD-L1 attenuation augmented autophagy and blunted the ability of autophagy inhibitors to limit proliferation in vitro and in vivo in NSG mice. PD-L1 attenuation also elevated mTORC1 activity and augmented the anti-proliferative effects of the mTORC1 inhibitor rapamycin. PD-L1 cells were also relatively deficient in metastasis to the lung and we found that anti-PD-L1 administration could block tumor cell growth and metastasis in NSG mice. This therapeutic effect was observed with B16 cells but not ID8agg cells, illustrating tumor- or tissue-specific effects in the therapeutic setting. Overall, our findings extend understanding of PD-L1 functions, illustrate non-immune effects of anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy and suggest broader uses for PD-L1 as a biomarker for assessing cancer therapeutic responses.