Group 2 innate lymphoid cells boost CD8⁺ T-cell activation in anti-tumor immune responses

ABSTRACT

Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) are essential for orchestrating type 2 immune responses during allergic airway inflammation and infection. ILC2s have been reported to play a regulatory role in tumors; however, this conclusion is controversial. In this study, we showed that IL-33-activated ILC2s could boost CD8⁺ T-cell function through direct antigen cross-presentation. After activation by IL-33, ILC2s showed an enhanced potential to process antigens and prime CD8⁺ T cell activation. Activated ILC2s could phagocytose exogenous antigens in vivo and in vitro, promoting antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cell function to enhance antitumor immune responses. Administration of OVA-loaded ILC2s induces robust antitumor effects on the OVA-expressing tumor model. These findings suggested that the administration of tumor antigen-loaded ILC2s might serve as a potential strategy for cancer treatment.

KEYWORDS:

• anti-tumor response
• antigen presentation
• CD8 T cell
• ILC2

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

Wen and Zhang designed the experiments and prepared the figures. J. Wen, R. Wang, Y. Zhang, S. Cheng, Y. Huang, and L. Xu performed experiments. J.Wen, Y. Zhang, and S. Cheng analyzed the data. L. Ma and Z. Ling provided material support. Wen, Sun, and Zhang interpreted the results and wrote the manuscript. B. Sun, Y. Zhang, D. Zhao and J. Xu supervised the project.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, B. Sun, upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2162402X.2023.2243112

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFA0507402), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32000667), the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action (21ZR1470600, 21JC1405800 and 20S11901800), Shanghai Hospital Development Center (SHDC22021217), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2022264).