T cell immunoglobulin-3 (TIM-3) has been established as a negative regulatory molecule and plays a critical role in immune tolerance. TIM-3 is upregulated in exhausted CD8⁺ T cells in both chronic infection and tumor. However, the nature of TIM-3⁺CD4⁺ T cells in the tumor microenvironment is unclear. This study is to characterize TIM-3 expressing lymphocytes within human lung cancer tissues and establish clinical significance of TIM-3 expression in lung cancer progression. A total of 51 human lung cancer tissue specimens were obtained from pathologically confirmed and newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Leukocytes from tumor tissues, distal normal lung tissues, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were analyzed for TIM-3 surface expression by flow cytometry. TIM-3 expression on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was correlated with clinicopathological parameters. TIM-3 is highly upregulated on both CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ TILs from human lung cancer tissues but negligibly expressed on T cells from patients' peripheral blood. Frequencies of IFN-γ⁺ cells were reduced in TIM-3⁺CD8⁺ TILs compared to TIM-3⁻CD8⁺ TILs. However, the level of TIM-3 expression on CD8⁺ TILs failed to associate with any clinical pathological parameter. Interestingly, we found that approximately 70% of TIM-3⁺CD4⁺ TILs expressed FOXP3 and about 60% of FOXP3⁺ TILs were TIM-3⁺. Importantly, TIM-3 expression on CD4⁺ T cells correlated with poor clinicopathological parameters of NSCLC such as nodal metastasis and advanced cancer stages. Our study reveals a new role of TIM-3 as an important immune regulator in the tumor microenvironment via its predominant expression in regulatory T cells.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS). In the murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of MS, T regulatory (Treg) cell therapy has proved to be beneficial, but generation of stable CNS-targeting Tregs needs further development. Here, we propose gene engineering to achieve CNS-targeting Tregs from naïve CD4 cells and demonstrate their efficacy in the EAE model.

Purpose: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been shown to elicit tumor-specific T-cell immune responses, but is not sufficient to prevent cancer progression. Here, we investigated immune-suppressive mechanisms limiting the efficacy of RFA. Experimental Design: We performed a retrospective case-controlled study on patients with synchronous colorectal cancer liver metastases who had received primary tumor resection with or without preoperative RFA for liver metastases. Tumor-infiltrating T cells and tumoral PD-L1 expression in human colorectal cancer tissues were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. T-cell immune responses and PD-1/PD-L1 expression were also characterized in an RFA mouse model. In addition, the combined effect of RAF and PD-1 blockade was evaluated in the mouse RFA model. Results: We found that RFA treatment of liver metastases increased not only T-cell infiltration, but also PD-L1 expression in primary human colorectal tumors. Using mouse tumor models, we demonstrated that RFA treatment of one tumor initially enhanced a strong T-cell–mediated immune response in tumor. Nevertheless, tumor quickly overcame the immune responses by inhibiting the function of CD8⁺ and CD4⁺ T cells, driving a shift to higher regulatory T-cell to Teff ratio, and upregulating PD-L1/PD-1 expression. Furthermore, we established that the combined therapy of RFA and anti–PD-1 antibodies significantly enhanced T-cell immune responses, resulting in stronger antitumor immunity and prolonged survival. Conclusions: The PD-L1–PD-1 axis plays a critical role in dampening RFA-induced antitumor immune responses, and this study provides a strong rationale for combining RFA and the PD-L1/PD-1 blockade in the clinical setting. Clin Cancer Res; 22(5); 1173–84. ©2016 AACR.

Cancer immunotherapy has shown great promise as a new standard cancer therapeutic modality. However, the response rates are limited for current approach that depends on enhancing spontaneous antitumor immune responses. Therefore, increasing tumor immunogenicity by expressing appropriate cytokines should further improve the current immunotherapy. IL-33 is a member of the IL-1 family of cytokines and is released by necrotic epithelial cells or activated innate immune cells and is thus considered a “danger” signal. The role of IL-33 in promoting type 2 immune responses and tissue inflammation has been well established. However, whether IL-33 drives antitumor immune responses is controversial. Our previous work established that IL-33 promoted the function of CD8⁺ T cells. In this study, we showed that the expression of IL-33 in two types of cancer cells potently inhibited tumor growth and metastasis. Mechanistically, IL-33 increased numbers and IFN-γ production by CD8⁺ T and NK cells in tumor tissues, thereby inducing a tumor microenvironment favoring tumor eradication. Importantly, IL-33 greatly increased tumor Ag-specific CD8⁺ T cells. Furthermore, both NK and CD8⁺ T cells were required for the antitumor effect of IL-33. Moreover, depletion of regulatory T cells worked synergistically with IL-33 expression for tumor elimination. Our studies established “alarmin” IL-33 as a promising new cytokine for tumor immunotherapy through promoting cancer-eradicating type 1 immune responses.

Cancer immunotherapy has produced impressive clinical results in recent years. Despite the success of the checkpoint blockade strategies targeting cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1), a large portion of cancer patients have not yet benefited from this novel therapy. T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3 (TIM-3) has been shown to mediate immune tolerance in mouse models of infectious diseases, alloimmunity, autoimmunity, and tumor Immunity. Thus, targeting TIM-3 emerges as a promising approach for further improvement of current immunotherapy. Despite a large amount of experimental data showing an immune suppressive function of TIM-3 in vivo, the exact mechanisms are not well understood. To enable effective targeting of TIM-3 for tumor immunotherapy, further in-depth mechanistic studies are warranted. These studies will also provide much-needed insight for the rational design of novel combination therapy with other checkpoint blockers. In this review, we summarize key evidence supporting an immune regulatory role of TIM-3 and discuss possible mechanisms of action.

The effector functions of CD8⁺ T cells are influenced by tissue inflammatory microenvironments. IL‐33, a member of the IL‐1 family, acts as a danger signal after its release during cell necrosis. The IL‐33/ST2 axis has been implicated in various Th2 responses. Its role in CD8⁺ T‐cell‐mediated immune response is, however, not known. Here we find that type 1 cytotoxic T (Tc1) cells cultured in vitro unexpectedly express high levels of the IL‐33 receptor ST2. Interestingly, the expression of ST2 in Tc1 cells is dependent on T‐bet, a master Th1/Tc1 transcription factor. In addition, IL‐33 enhances TCR‐triggered IFN‐γ production. IL‐33 together with IL‐12 can stimulate IFN‐γ production in Tc1 cells. Moreover, IL‐33 synergizes with IL‐12 to promote CD8⁺ T‐cell effector function. The synergistic effect of IL‐33 and IL‐12 is partly mediated by Gadd45b. Together, these in vitro data establish a novel role of IL‐33 in promoting effector type 1 adaptive immune responses.