Dysfunctional CD8 T Cells Form a Proliferative, Dynamically Regulated Compartment within Human Melanoma

Abstract

Tumor immune cell compositions play a major role in response to immunotherapy, but the heterogeneity and dynamics of immune infiltrates in human cancer lesions remain poorly characterized. Here, we identify conserved intratumoral CD4 and CD8 T cell behaviors in scRNA-seq data from 25 melanoma patients. We discover a large population of CD8 T cells showing continuous progression from an early effector "transitional" into a dysfunctional T cell state. CD8 T cells that express a complete cytotoxic gene set are rare, and TCR sharing data suggest their independence from the transitional and dysfunctional cell states. Notably, we demonstrate that dysfunctional T cells are the major intratumoral proliferating immune cell compartment and that the intensity of the dysfunctional signature is associated with tumor reactivity. Our data demonstrate that CD8 T cells previously defined as exhausted are in fact a highly proliferating, clonal, and dynamically differentiating cell population within the human tumor microenvironment.

Keywords: T cell dysfunction; immune checkpoints; immunology; immunotherapy; melanoma; single-cell RNA-seq; tumor immunology; tumor microenvironment; tumor reactivity.