CTLA-4 blockade induces a microglia-Th1 cell partnership that stimulates microglia phagocytosis and anti-tumor function in glioblastoma

Abstract

The limited efficacy of immunotherapies against glioblastoma underscores the urgency of better understanding immunity in the central nervous system. We found that treatment with αCTLA-4, but not αPD-1, prolonged survival in a mouse model of mesenchymal-like glioblastoma. This effect was lost upon the depletion of CD4⁺ T cells but not CD8⁺ T cells. αCTLA-4 treatment increased frequencies of intratumoral IFNγ-producing CD4⁺ T cells, and IFNγ blockade negated the therapeutic impact of αCTLA-4. The anti-tumor activity of CD4⁺ T cells did not require tumor-intrinsic MHC-II expression but rather required conventional dendritic cells as well as MHC-II expression on microglia. CD4⁺ T cells interacted directly with microglia, promoting IFNγ-dependent microglia activation and phagocytosis via the AXL/MER tyrosine kinase receptors, which were necessary for tumor suppression. Thus, αCTLA-4 blockade in mesenchymal-like glioblastoma promotes a CD4⁺ T cell-microglia circuit wherein IFNγ triggers microglia activation and phagocytosis and microglia in turn act as antigen-presenting cells fueling the CD4⁺ T cell response.

Keywords: AXL; CD4(+) T cell; CTLA-4; MER; MHC-II; glioblastoma; immunotherapy; microglia.