Human Tumor-Infiltrating MAIT Cells Display Hallmarks of Bacterial Antigen Recognition in Colorectal Cancer.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33205061.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.xcrm.2020.100039 and PMC identifier 7659584.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Growing evidence indicates a role for the gut microbiota in modulating anti-tumor treatment efficacy in human cancer. Here we study mucosa-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells to look for evidence of bacterial antigen recognition in human colon, lung, and kidney carcinomas. Using mass cytometry and single-cell mRNA sequencing, we identify a tumor-infiltrating MAIT cell subset expressing CD4 and Foxp3 and observe high expression of CD39 on MAIT cells from colorectal cancer (CRC) only, which we show <i>in vitro</i> to be expressed specifically after TCR stimulation. We further reveal that these cells are phenotypically and functionally exhausted. Sequencing data show high bacterial infiltration in CRC tumors and highlight an enriched species, <i>Fusobacteria nucleatum,</i> with capability to activate MAIT cells in a TCR-dependent way. Our results provide evidence of a MAIT cell response to microbial antigens in CRC and could pave the way for manipulating MAIT cells or the microbiome for cancer therapy.
Medical subject headings
- Antigens, Bacterial
- Colorectal Neoplasms
- Gastrointestinal Microbiome
- Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells