Pericancerous cross-presentation to cytotoxic T lymphocytes impairs immunotherapeutic efficacy in hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Hyperprogressive disease can occur in cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy, but whether and how reactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) exert protumorigenic effects in this context remain elusive. Herein, our study reveals that pericancerous macrophages cross-present antigens to CD103⁺ CTLs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) via the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated degradation machinery-mediated cytosolic pathway. This process leads to the retention of CD103⁺ CTLs in the pericancerous area, whereby they activate NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages, promoting hepatoma progression and resistance to immunotherapy. Our single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and spatial transcriptomics analysis of HCC patients shows that despite their tissue-resident effector phenotype, the aggregation of CD103⁺ CTLs predicts unfavorable clinical outcomes for HCC patients receiving multiple types of treatment. Correspondingly, therapeutic strategies that redistribute CD103⁺ CTLs can disrupt this pathogenic interplay with macrophages, enhancing the efficacy of ICB treatment against HCC.

Keywords: CD103(+) CTLs; cross-presentation; hepatocellular carcinoma; immune checkpoint blockade; pathogenic inflammation; pericancerous macrophages.