Successful Anti-PD-1 Cancer Immunotherapy Requires T Cell-Dendritic Cell Crosstalk Involving the Cytokines IFN-γ and IL-12

Highlights

• Effective anti-PD-1 anti-tumor responses require IL-12-producing dendritic cells

• Anti-PD-1 indirectly activates IL-12 through IFN-γ produced from CD8⁺ T cells

• Agonizing the non-canonical NF-κB pathway enhances dendritic cell IL-12 production

• Combining aPD-1 with non-canonical NF-κB agonism enhances checkpoint immunotherapy

Summary

Anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint blockers can induce sustained clinical responses in cancer but how they function in vivo remains incompletely understood. Here, we combined intravital real-time imaging with single-cell RNA sequencing analysis and mouse models to uncover anti-PD-1 pharmacodynamics directly within tumors. We showed that effective antitumor responses required a subset of tumor-infiltrating dendritic cells (DCs), which produced interleukin 12 (IL-12). These DCs did not bind anti-PD-1 but produced IL-12 upon sensing interferon γ (IFN-γ) that was released from neighboring T cells. In turn, DC-derived IL-12 stimulated antitumor T cell immunity. These findings suggest that full-fledged activation of antitumor T cells by anti-PD-1 is not direct, but rather involves T cell:DC crosstalk and is licensed by IFN-γ and IL-12. Furthermore, we found that activating the non-canonical NF-κB transcription factor pathway amplified IL-12-producing DCs and sensitized tumors to anti-PD-1 treatment, suggesting a therapeutic strategy to improve responses to checkpoint blockade.