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Review
. 2023 Mar 9:14:1119383.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1119383. eCollection 2023.

Tissue-resident memory T cells in gastrointestinal tumors: turning immune desert into immune oasis

Mengjie Liang  1 , Xingzhou Wang  1 , Daming Cai  1 , Wenxian Guan  1 , Xiaofei Shen  1
Affiliations
Review

Tissue-resident memory T cells in gastrointestinal tumors: turning immune desert into immune oasis

Mengjie Liang et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Tissue-resident memory T cells (Trm) are a particular type of T cell subgroup, which stably reside in tissues and have been revealed to be the most abundant memory T cell population in various tissues. They can be activated in the local microenvironment by infection or tumor cells and rapidly clean them up to restore homeostasis of local immunity in gastrointestinal tissues. Emerging evidence has shown that tissue-resident memory T cells have great potential to be mucosal guardians against gastrointestinal tumors. Therefore, they are considered potential immune markers for immunotherapy of gastrointestinal tumors and potential extraction objects for cell therapy with essential prospects in clinical translational therapy. This paper systematically reviews the role of tissue-resident memory T cells in gastrointestinal tumors and looks to the future of their prospect in immunotherapy to provide a reference for clinical application.

Keywords: anti-tumor response; cancer immunotherapy; gastrointestinal tumor; tissue resident memory T; tumor immune microenvironment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The formation of memory cells and the T cell exhaustion pathway. Naïve T cells are stimulated by antigens presented by APC and develop to active precursors, which further differentiate into effector T cells (Teff) and stem-like memory T cells (Tscm). Tscm can further develop to central memory T cells (Tcm), effector memory T cells (Tem) and tissue-resident memory T cells (Trm). Some of them can also become exhausted gradually, and restoration of function of these cells rely on immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phenotypes and signaling pathways of tissue-resident memory T cells. Trm cells express distinct phenotype under stimulation of various cytokines in tumor microenvironment. For example, dendritic cells and macrophages can release IL-15, which binds to IL-15 receptor and activates transcription factor T-bet, resulting in IFN-γ expression of Trm. In response to IL-7 in tumor microenvironment, STAT5 is activated and leads to IFN-γand perforin production. E-cadherin expressed by other cells and extracellular matrix like collagen IV are also able to bind the receptors expressed on Trm surface. After that, they release a variety of cytokines to kill targeted cells and regulate local immune microenvironment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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