NaCl 增强癌症免疫治疗中 CD8(+) T 细胞效应功能

CD8 + T cells control tumors but inevitably become dysfunctional in the tumor microenvironment.

Here, we show that sodium chloride (NaCl) counteracts T cell dysfunction to promote cancer regression. NaCl supplementation during CD8 + T cell culture induced effector differentiation, IFN-γ production and cytotoxicity while maintaining the gene networks responsible for stem-like plasticity.

Accordingly, adoptive transfer of tumor-specific T cells resulted in superior anti-tumor immunity in a humanized mouse model. In mice, a high-salt diet reduced the growth of experimental tumors in a CD8 + T cell-dependent manner by inhibiting terminal differentiation and enhancing the effector potency of CD8 + T cells.

Mechanistically, NaCl enhanced glutamine consumption, which was critical for transcriptional, epigenetic and functional reprogramming. In humans, CD8 + T cells undergoing antigen recognition in tumors and predicting favorable responses to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy resembled those induced by NaCl.

Thus, NaCl metabolism is a regulator of CD8 + T cell effector function, with potential implications for cancer immunotherapy.