IFN-γ-induced PD-L1+ and MHC II+ macrophages and Tim-3+ tumor-reactive CD8+ T cells predict a positive response to anti-PD-1 therapy in tumor-bearing mice

While immune checkpoint inhibitors have demonstrated durable responses in various cancer types, a significant proportion of patients do not exhibit favourable responses to these interventions. To uncover potential factors associated with a positive response to immunotherapy, we established a bilateral tumor model using P815 mastocytoma implanted in DBA/2 mice. In this model, only a fraction of tumor-bearing mice responds favourably to anti-PD-1 treatment, thus providing a valuable model to explore the influence of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in determining the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB)-based immunotherapies. Moreover, this model allows for the analysis of a pretreatment tumor and inference of its treatment outcome based on the response observed in the contralateral tumor. Here, we demonstrated that tumor-reactive CD8+ T cell clones expressing high levels of Tim-3 were associated to a positive anti-tumor response following anti-PD-1 administration. Our study also revealed distinct differentiation dynamics in tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells in responding and non-responding mice. An IFNγ-enriched TME appeared to promote the differentiation of monocytes into PD-L1pos MHC IIhigh cells in mice responding to immunotherapy. Monocytes present in the TME of non-responding mice failed to reach the same final stage of differentiation trajectory, suggesting that an altered monocyte to macrophage route may hamper the response to ICB. These insights will direct future research towards a temporal analysis of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), aiming to identify factors responsible for transitions between differentiation states within the TME. This approach may potentially pave the way to novel strategies to enhance the efficacy of PD-1 blockade.