Sufficient T cell infiltration is essential for response to PD-L1 blockade
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Targeting tumors with LIGHT creates a T cell-inflamed tumor microenvironment
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LIGHT overcomes tumor resistance to checkpoint blockade by increasing TILs
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This study provides a strategy to increase response rate to checkpoint blockade
Summary
Immune checkpoint blockade therapies fail to induce responses in the majority of cancer patients, so how to increase the objective response rate becomes an urgent challenge. Here, we demonstrate that sufficient T cell infiltration in tumor tissues is a prerequisite for response to PD-L1 blockade. Targeting tumors with tumor necrosis factor superfamily member LIGHT activates lymphotoxin β-receptor signaling, leading to the production of chemokines that recruit massive numbers of T cells. Furthermore, targeting non-T cell-inflamed tumor tissues by antibody-guided LIGHT creates a T cell-inflamed microenvironment and overcomes tumor resistance to checkpoint blockade. Our data indicate that targeting LIGHT might be a potent strategy to increase the responses to checkpoint blockades and other immunotherapies in non-T cell-inflamed tumors.
