Crosstalk between angiogenesis and immunosuppression mediated by dysfunctional CD8 T cells

BANNOUD N; GAMBARTE J; GARCIA PA; CROCI DO; D´ALOTTO-MORENO T; RABINOVICH GA

Mar del Plata

Congreso; LXIV Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica; 2019

Aberrant angiogenesis and immune evasion stand out as hallmarks of cancer since they are essential processes for the development of most solid tumors. T cell exhaustion is one of the mechanisms that accounts for immune escape in the tumor microenvironment restraining effective antitumor response. The aim of this study was to investigate the crosstalk between angiogenesis and immunosuppression, focusing on exhausted CD8 T cells. To address this, we purified splenic CD8 T cells from C57/BL6 mice and exposed them to an activation/reactivation cycle using anti CD3/CD28, under normoxic or hypoxic conditions, and characterized them as activated or exhausted (ex) T cells according to expression of inhibitory receptors and cytokines. CD8ex showed higher expression of PD-1 and Tim-3 and lower levels of IL-2, TNF, IFN-γ and grzB (p