Expression of CD39 Identifies Activated Intratumoral CD8+ T Cells in Mismatch Repair Deficient Endometrial Cancer
Identification of human cancer-reactive CD8+ T cells is crucial for the stratification of patients for immunotherapy and determination of immune-therapeutic effects. To date, these T cells have been identified mainly based on cell surface expression of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) or co-ex...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI
2022
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | View Fulltext in Publisher |
Summary: | Identification of human cancer-reactive CD8+ T cells is crucial for the stratification of patients for immunotherapy and determination of immune-therapeutic effects. To date, these T cells have been identified mainly based on cell surface expression of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) or co-expression of CD103 and CD39. A small subset of CD103− CD39+ CD8+ T cells is also present in tumors, but little is known about these T cells. Here, we report that CD103− CD39+ CD8+ T cells from mismatch repair-deficient endometrial tumors are activated and characterized predominantly by expression of TNFRSF9. In vitro, transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) drives the disappearance of this subset, likely through the conversion of CD103− CD39+ cells to a CD103+ phenotype. On the transcriptomic level, T cell activation and induction of CD39 was associated with a number of tissue residence and TGF-β responsive transcription factors. Altogether, our data suggest CD39+ CD103− CD8+ tumor-infiltrating T cells are recently activated and likely rapidly differentiate towards tissue residence upon exposure to TGF-β in the tumor micro-environment, explaining their relative paucity in human tumors. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. |
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ISBN: | 20726694 (ISSN) |
DOI: | 10.3390/cancers14081924 |