Human lung cancer harbors spatially organized stem-immunity hubs associated with response to immunotherapy

  • Jonathan H. Chen*
  • , Linda T. Nieman
  • , Maxwell Spurrell
  • , Vjola Jorgji
  • , Liad Elmelech
  • , Peter Richieri
  • , Katherine H. Xu
  • , Roopa Madhu
  • , Milan Parikh
  • , Izabella Zamora
  • , Arnav Mehta
  • , Christopher S. Nabel
  • , Samuel S. Freeman
  • , Joshua D. Pirl
  • , Chenyue Lu
  • , Catherine B. Meador
  • , Jaimie L. Barth
  • , Mustafa Sakhi
  • , Alexander L. Tang
  • , Siranush Sarkizova
  • Colles Price, Nicolas F. Fernandez, George Emanuel, Jiang He, Katrina Van Raay, Jason W. Reeves, Keren Yizhak, Matan Hofree, Angela Shih, Moshe Sade-Feldman, Genevieve M. Boland, Karin Pelka, Martin J. Aryee, Mari Mino-Kenudson, Justin F. Gainor*, Ilya Korsunsky*, Nir Hacohen*
*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

69 Scopus citations

Abstract

The organization of immune cells in human tumors is not well understood. Immunogenic tumors harbor spatially localized multicellular ‘immunity hubs’ defined by expression of the T cell-attracting chemokines CXCL10/CXCL11 and abundant T cells. Here, we examined immunity hubs in human pre-immunotherapy lung cancer specimens and found an association with beneficial response to PD-1 blockade. Critically, we discovered the stem-immunity hub, a subtype of immunity hub strongly associated with favorable PD-1-blockade outcome. This hub is distinct from mature tertiary lymphoid structures and is enriched for stem-like TCF7+PD-1+CD8+ T cells, activated CCR7+LAMP3+ dendritic cells and CCL19+ fibroblasts as well as chemokines that organize these cells. Within the stem-immunity hub, we find preferential interactions between CXCL10+ macrophages and TCF7CD8+ T cells as well as between mature regulatory dendritic cells and TCF7+CD4+ and regulatory T cells. These results provide a picture of the spatial organization of the human intratumoral immune response and its relevance to patient immunotherapy outcomes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)644-658
Number of pages15
JournalNature Immunology
Volume25
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc. 2024.

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