Cancer Cell-Intrinsic Expression of MHC Class II Regulates the Immune Microenvironment and Response to Anti-PD-1 Therapy in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

MHC class II (MHCII) expression is usually restricted to APC but can be expressed by cancer cells. We examined the effect of cancer cell-specific MHCII (csMHCII) expression in lung adenocarcinoma on T cell recruitment to tumors and response to anti-PD-1 therapy using two orthotopic immunocompetent murine models of non-small cell lung cancer: CMT167 (CMT) and Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC). We previously showed that CMT167 tumors are eradicated by anti-PD1 therapy, whereas LLC tumors are resistant. RNA sequencing analysis of cancer cells recovered from tumors revealed that csMHCII correlated with response to anti-PD1 therapy, with immunotherapy-sensitive CMT167 cells being csMHCII positive, whereas resistant LLC cells were csMHCII negative. To test the functional effects of csMHCII, MHCII expression was altered on the cancer cells through loss- and gain-of-function of CIITA, a master regulator of the MHCII pathway. Loss of CIITA in CMT167 decreased csMHCII and converted tumors from anti-PD-1 sensitive to anti-PD-1 resistant. This was associated with lower levels of Th1 cytokines, decreased T cell infiltration, increased B cell numbers, and decreased macrophage recruitment. Conversely, overexpression of CIITA in LLC cells resulted in csMHCII in vitro and in vivo. Enforced expression of CIITA increased T cell infiltration and sensitized tumors to anti-PD-1 therapy. csMHCII expression was also examined in a subset of surgically resected human lung adenocarcinomas by multispectral imaging, which provided a survival benefit and positively correlated with T cell infiltration. These studies demonstrate a functional role for csMHCII in regulating T cell infiltration and sensitivity to anti-PD-1.