Hypoxia inhibits the iMo/cDC2/CD8+ TRMs immune axis in the tumor microenvironment of human esophageal cancer.

BACKGROUND

Esophageal cancer (ESCA) is a form of malignant tumor associated with chronic inflammation and immune dysregulation. However, the specific immune status and key mechanisms of immune regulation in this disease require further exploration.

METHODS

To investigate the features of the human ESCA tumor immune microenvironment and its possible regulation, we performed mass cytometry by time of flight, single-cell RNA sequencing, multicolor fluorescence staining of tissue, and flow cytometry analyses on tumor and paracancerous tissue from treatment-naïve patients.

RESULTS

We depicted the immune landscape of the ESCA and revealed that CD8 (tissue-resident memory CD8 T cells (CD8 TRMs) were closely related to disease progression. We also revealed the heterogeneity of CD8 TRMs in the ESCA tumor microenvironment (TME), which was associated with their differentiation and function. Moreover, the subset of CD8 TRMs in tumor (called tTRMs) that expressed high levels of granzyme B and immune checkpoints was markedly decreased in the TME of advanced ESCA. We showed that tTRMs are tumor effector cells preactivated in the TME. We then demonstrated that conventional dendritic cells (cDC2s) derived from intermediate monocytes (iMos) are essential for maintaining the proliferation of CD8 TRMs in the TME. Our preliminary study showed that hypoxia can promote the apoptosis of iMos and impede the maturation of cDC2s, which in turn reduces the proliferative capacity of CD8 TRMs, thereby contributing to the progression of cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study revealed the essential antitumor roles of CD8 TRMs and preliminarily explored the regulation of the iMo/cDC2/CD8 TRM immune axis in the human ESCA TME.