Browsing by Author "Van Kaer, Luc"

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    NKG2A Is a Therapeutic Vulnerability in Immunotherapy Resistant MHC-I Heterogeneous Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
    (American Association for Cancer Research, 2024) Taylor, Brandie C.; Sun, Xiaopeng; Gonzalez-Ericsson, Paula I.; Sanchez, Violeta; Sanders, Melinda E.; Wescott, Elizabeth C.; Opalenik, Susan R.; Hanna, Ann; Chou, Shu-Ting; Van Kaer, Luc; Gomez, Henry; Isaacs, Claudine; Ballinger, Tarah J.; Santa-Maria, Cesar A.; Shah, Payal D.; Dees, Elizabeth C.; Lehmann, Brian D.; Abramson, Vandana G.; Pietenpol, Jennifer A.; Balko, Justin M.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Despite the success of immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) in treating cancer, patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) often develop resistance to therapy, and the underlying mechanisms are unclear. MHC-I expression is essential for antigen presentation and T-cell-directed immunotherapy responses. This study demonstrates that TNBC patients display intratumor heterogeneity in regional MHC-I expression. In murine models, loss of MHC-I negates antitumor immunity and ICI response, whereas intratumor MHC-I heterogeneity leads to increased infiltration of natural killer (NK) cells in an IFNγ-dependent manner. Using spatial technologies, MHC-I heterogeneity is associated with clinical resistance to anti-programmed death (PD) L1 therapy and increased NK:T-cell ratios in human breast tumors. MHC-I heterogeneous tumors require NKG2A to suppress NK-cell function. Combining anti-NKG2A and anti-PD-L1 therapies restores complete response in heterogeneous MHC-I murine models, dependent on the presence of activated, tumor-infiltrating NK and CD8+ T cells. These results suggest that similar strategies may enhance patient benefit in clinical trials. Significance: Clinical resistance to immunotherapy is common in breast cancer, and many patients will likely require combination therapy to maximize immunotherapeutic benefit. This study demonstrates that heterogeneous MHC-I expression drives resistance to anti-PD-L1 therapy and exposes NKG2A on NK cells as a target to overcome resistance.