Lipid signalling enforces functional specialization of Treg cells in tumours

Abstract

Regulatory T cells (T_reg cells) are essential for immune tolerance¹, but also drive immunosuppression in the tumour microenvironment². Therapeutic targeting of T_reg cells in cancer will therefore require the identification of context-specific mechanisms that affect their function. Here we show that inhibiting lipid synthesis and metabolic signalling that are dependent on sterol-regulatory-element-binding proteins (SREBPs) in T_reg cells unleashes effective antitumour immune responses without autoimmune toxicity. We find that the activity of SREBPs is upregulated in intratumoral T_reg cells. Moreover, deletion of SREBP-cleavage-activating protein (SCAP)-a factor required for SREBP activity-in these cells inhibits tumour growth and boosts immunotherapy that is triggered by targeting the immune-checkpoint protein PD-1. These effects of SCAP deletion are associated with uncontrolled production of interferon-γ and impaired function of intratumoral T_reg cells. Mechanistically, signalling through SCAP and SREBPs coordinates cellular programs for lipid synthesis and inhibitory receptor signalling in these cells. First, de novo fatty-acid synthesis mediated by fatty-acid synthase (FASN) contributes to functional maturation of T_reg cells, and loss of FASN from T_reg cells inhibits tumour growth. Second, T_reg cells in tumours show enhanced expression of the PD-1 gene, through a process that depends on SREBP activity and signals via mevalonate metabolism to protein geranylgeranylation. Blocking PD-1 or SREBP signalling results in dysregulated activation of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase in intratumoral T_reg cells. Our findings show that metabolic reprogramming enforces the functional specialization of T_reg cells in tumours, pointing to new ways of targeting these cells for cancer therapy.