Article
作者: Tang, Xiangyu ; Feng, Hao ; Yu, Chune ; Wang, Hui ; Jin, Guangzhi ; Xu, Lei ; Zhu, Chuchen ; Zhang, Sisi ; Ji, Shuyi ; Yang, Chen ; Miao, Beiping ; Zhang, Haoyu ; Ma, Xuhui ; Du, Shangce ; Sun, Chong ; Chen, Xiaoping ; Yuan, Shengxian ; Huang, Zhao ; Li, Qian ; Leng, Chao ; Yang, Xupeng ; Qin, Wenxin ; Gao, Qiang ; Li, Yan ; Wang, Hongye ; Wang, Cun ; Zhu, Lili ; Cao, Ying ; Xia, Yuhan ; Geng, Haigang ; Bernards, René ; Liu, Zhicheng ; Zheng, Quan ; Zhang, Tangansu ; Li, Botai ; Hu, Haiyan ; Zhu, Chunchao ; Xu, Nuo
Tumor-initiating cells (TICs) possess the ability to evade anti-tumor immunity, potentially explaining many failures of cancer immunotherapy. Here, we identify CD49f as a prominent marker for discerning TICs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), outperforming other commonly used TIC markers. CD49f-high TICs specifically recruit tumor-promoting neutrophils via the CXCL2-CXCR2 axis and create an immunosuppressive milieu in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Reciprocally, the neutrophils reprogram nearby tumor cells toward a TIC phenotype via secreting CCL4. These cells can evade CD8+ T cell-mediated killing through CCL4/STAT3-induced and CD49f-stabilized CD155 expression. Notably, while aberrant CD155 expression contributes to immune suppression, it also represents a TIC-specific vulnerability. We demonstrate that either CD155 deletion or antibody blockade significantly enhances sensitivity to anti-PD-1 therapy in preclinical HCC models. Our findings reveal a new mechanism of tumor immune evasion and provide a rationale for combining CD155 blockade with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy in HCC.