Circulation of gut-preactivated naïve CD8⁺ T cells enhances antitumor immunity in B cell-defective mice.

Abstract

The gut microbiome has garnered attention as an effective target to boost immunity and improve cancer immunotherapy. We found that B cell-defective (BCD) mice, such as µ-membrane targeted deletion (µMT) and activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) knockouts (KOs), have elevated antitumor immunity under specific pathogen-free but not germ-free conditions. Microbial dysbiosis in these BCD mice enriched the type I IFN (IFN) signature in mucosal CD8⁺ T cells, resulting in up-regulation of the type I IFN-inducible protein stem cell antigen-1 (Sca-1). Among CD8⁺ T cells, naïve cells predominantly circulate from the gut to the periphery, and those that had migrated from the mesenteric lymph nodes (mLNs) to the periphery had significantly higher expression of Sca-1. The gut-educated Sca-1⁺ naïve subset is endowed with enhanced mitochondrial activity and antitumor effector potential. The heterogeneity and functional versatility of the systemic naïve CD8⁺ T cell compartment was revealed by single-cell analysis and functional assays of CD8⁺ T cell subpopulations. These results indicate one of the potential mechanisms through which microbial dysbiosis regulates antitumor immunity.