A major chromatin regulator determines resistance of tumor cells to T cell-mediated killing.

Science
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Many human cancers are resistant to immunotherapy, for reasons that are poorly understood. We used a genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 screen to identify mechanisms of tumor cell resistance to killing by cytotoxic T cells, the central effectors of antitumor immunity. Inactivation of >100 genes-including , , and , which encode components of the PBAF form of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex-sensitized mouse B16F10 melanoma cells to killing by T cells. Loss of PBAF function increased tumor cell sensitivity to interferon-γ, resulting in enhanced secretion of chemokines that recruit effector T cells. Treatment-resistant tumors became responsive to immunotherapy when was inactivated. In many human cancers, expression of and inversely correlated with expression of T cell cytotoxicity genes, and -deficient murine melanomas were more strongly infiltrated by cytotoxic T cells.

Year of Publication
2018
Journal
Science
Volume
359
Issue
6377
Pages
770-775
Date Published
2018 02 16
ISSN
1095-9203
DOI
10.1126/science.aao1710
PubMed ID
29301958
PubMed Central ID
PMC5953516
Links
Grant list
R01 CA173750 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
U24 CA224316 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
T32 GM074897 / GM / NIGMS NIH HHS / United States
R01 HG008927 / HG / NHGRI NIH HHS / United States
T32 CA207021 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States