1. Interferon-Gamma-Producing CD8 + Tissue Resident Memory T Cells Are a Targetable Hallmark of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Colitis.
- Author
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Sasson SC, Slevin SM, Cheung VTF, Nassiri I, Olsson-Brown A, Fryer E, Ferreira RC, Trzupek D, Gupta T, Al-Hillawi L, Issaias ML, Easton A, Campo L, FitzPatrick MEB, Adams J, Chitnis M, Protheroe A, Tuthill M, Coupe N, Simmons A, Payne M, Middleton MR, Travis SPL, Fairfax BP, Klenerman P, and Brain O
- Subjects
- CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes immunology, CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes metabolism, CTLA-4 Antigen antagonists & inhibitors, CTLA-4 Antigen metabolism, Case-Control Studies, Colitis drug therapy, Colitis immunology, Colitis metabolism, Colitis, Ulcerative immunology, Colitis, Ulcerative metabolism, Colon immunology, Colon metabolism, Cross-Sectional Studies, Gene Expression Profiling, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Lymphocyte Activation drug effects, Memory T Cells immunology, Memory T Cells metabolism, Phenotype, Piperidines therapeutic use, Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor antagonists & inhibitors, Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor metabolism, Prospective Studies, Pyrimidines therapeutic use, RNA-Seq, Single-Cell Analysis, Transcriptome, CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes drug effects, Colitis chemically induced, Colon drug effects, Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors adverse effects, Immunologic Memory drug effects, Interferon-gamma metabolism, Memory T Cells drug effects
- Abstract
Background & Aims: The pathogenesis of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-colitis remains incompletely understood. We sought to identify key cellular drivers of ICI-colitis and their similarities to idiopathic ulcerative colitis, and to determine potential novel therapeutic targets., Methods: We used a cross-sectional approach to study patients with ICI-colitis, those receiving ICI without the development of colitis, idiopathic ulcerative colitis, and healthy controls. A subset of patients with ICI-colitis were studied longitudinally. We applied a range of methods, including multiparameter and spectral flow cytometry, spectral immunofluorescence microscopy, targeted gene panels, and bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing., Results: We demonstrate CD8
+ tissue resident memory T (TRM ) cells are the dominant activated T cell subset in ICI-colitis. The pattern of gastrointestinal immunopathology is distinct from ulcerative colitis at both the immune and epithelial-signaling levels. CD8+ TRM cell activation correlates with clinical and endoscopic ICI-colitis severity. Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis confirms activated CD8+ TRM cells express high levels of transcripts for checkpoint inhibitors and interferon-gamma in ICI-colitis. We demonstrate similar findings in both anti-CTLA-4/PD-1 combination therapy and in anti-PD-1 inhibitor-associated colitis. On the basis of our data, we successfully targeted this pathway in a patient with refractory ICI-colitis, using the JAK inhibitor tofacitinib., Conclusions: Interferon gamma-producing CD8+ TRM cells are a pathological hallmark of ICI-colitis and a novel target for therapy., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)- Published
- 2021
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