PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Imahashi, Nobuhiko
AU  - Basar, Rafet
AU  - Huang, Yuefan
AU  - Wang, Fang
AU  - Baran, Natalia
AU  - Banerjee, Pinaki Prosad
AU  - Lu, Junjun
AU  - Nunez Cortes, Ana Karen
AU  - Uprety, Nadima
AU  - Ensley, Emily
AU  - Muniz-Feliciano, Luis
AU  - Laskowski, Tamara J
AU  - Moyes, Judy S
AU  - Daher, May
AU  - Mendt, Mayela
AU  - Kerbauy, Lucila N
AU  - Shanley, Mayra
AU  - Li, Li
AU  - Lim, Francesca Lorraine Wei Inng
AU  - Shaim, Hila
AU  - Li, Ye
AU  - Konopleva, Marina
AU  - Green, Michael
AU  - Wargo, Jennifer
AU  - Shpall, Elizabeth J
AU  - Chen, Ken
AU  - Rezvani, Katayoun
TI  - Activated B cells suppress T-cell function through metabolic competition
AID  - 10.1136/jitc-2022-005644
DP  - 2022 Dec 01
TA  - Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
PG  - e005644
VI  - 10
IP  - 12
4099  - http://jitc.bmj.com/content/10/12/e005644.short
4100  - http://jitc.bmj.com/content/10/12/e005644.full
SO  - J Immunother Cancer2022 Dec 01; 10
AB  - Background B cells play a pivotal role in regulating the immune response. The induction of B cell-mediated immunosuppressive function requires B cell activating signals. However, the mechanisms by which activated B cells mediate T-cell suppression are not fully understood.Methods We investigated the potential contribution of metabolic activity of activated B cells to T-cell suppression by performing in vitro experiments and by analyzing clinical samples using mass cytometry and single-cell RNA sequencing.Results Here we show that following activation, B cells acquire an immunoregulatory phenotype and promote T-cell suppression by metabolic competition. Activated B cells induced hypoxia in T cells in a cell–cell contact dependent manner by consuming more oxygen via an increase in their oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Moreover, activated B cells deprived T cells of glucose and produced lactic acid through their high glycolytic activity. Activated B cells thus inhibited the mammalian target of rapamycin pathway in T cells, resulting in suppression of T-cell cytokine production and proliferation. Finally, we confirmed the presence of tumor-associated B cells with high glycolytic and OXPHOS activities in patients with melanoma, associated with poor response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy.Conclusions We have revealed for the first time the immunomodulatory effects of the metabolic activity of activated B cells and their possible role in suppressing antitumor T-cell responses. These findings add novel insights into immunometabolism and have important implications for cancer immunotherapy.Data are available upon reasonable request.