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2017 Off the Shelf Stem Cell Derived Innate Lymphoid Cells Ameliorate Gvhd through IL-9 Induced-T Cell Senescence

Program: Oral and Poster Abstracts
Session: 701. Experimental Transplantation: Basic and Translational: Poster I
Hematology Disease Topics & Pathways:
Fundamental Science, Research, Translational Research, GVHD, Immune Disorders, Diseases
Saturday, December 7, 2024, 5:30 PM-7:30 PM

Dejene Tufa, DVM1*, Eric Hoffmeyer2*, Kristin Schaller1*, Ben Kooiman2*, Elena Woods3*, Dong Wang1*, Dallas Jones4*, Spencer Hall5* and Michael R Verneris, MD6

1UC Denver, Aurora, CO
2University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
3CU Anschutz/Pediatrics, GREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO
4University of Colorado, Denver, Aurora, CO
5CU Anschutz, Aurora, CO
6Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Bone Marrow Transplantation, University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital of Colorado, Aurora, CO

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are tissue resident lymphocytes that play a key role in tissue homeostasis and the regulation of gastrointestinal tract inflammation. Prior studies have linked ILCs to allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) outcomes. For instance, ILC3-derived IL-22 drives intestinal stem cell regeneration and thymic epithelial cell protection from irradiation. Adoptive transfer of IL-25 and IL-33 mobilized ILC2s can protect some mice from lethal GVHD, and in human studies, high quantities of activated (CD69+) peripheral blood ILC2s and ILC3s have been correlated with less acute GVHD. Despite these studies, the precise mechanisms underlying ILC modulation of T cell inflammation are incompletely understood. Leveraging our established method for in vitro ILC differentiation from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), we investigated the interplay between HSC-derived ILCs and allogeneic T cells. Using xenogeneic GVHD models, 3rd party human ILC2 (p=0.0007) or ILC3 (p=0.002) cells could significantly prolong survival. Likewise, in murine GVHD models (B6"Balb/c) adoptive transfer of either donor (p=0.04) or recipient (p=0.01) ILCs could also prolong survival. In 7 day co-culture experiments the addition of allogeneic ILC2 and ILC3 cells to CD3xCD28 activated T cells showed significant attenuation in T cell proliferation. Furthermore, comparing T cell cultures to co-culture with ILCs, there was a significant reduction in naïve T cells and an increase in the Tcm compartment. To further characterize the impact of ILCs on T cells, we performed transcriptomic analysis (RNAseq) and used gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) to identify T cell pathways that were activated or inhibited with ILC co-culture. Of a total of 15 inhibited pathways with ILC2 coculture and 16 inhibited pathways with ILC3 coculture, 13 were shared. Among these were reductions in the proliferation-related gene sets (E2F Targets, MYC Targets V1, MYC Targets V2, G2M checkpoint and DNA repair hallmarks). Interestingly, the oxidative phosphorylation pathway was also inhibited in T cells following co-culture with ILC2s or ILC3s and seahorse assays confirmed these findings in the cocultured T cells. Our findings also revealed that ILC2s and ILC3s induced senescence in activated T cells as evidenced by reduced T cell proliferation, heightened cytokine production (Th1, Th2 and Th17), and upregulation of senescence-associated surface proteins (CD57, KLRG1, TIGIT, and TIM3). Moreover, these ILC-exposed T cells exhibited increased expression of senescence-related proteins (p16, p21, p53, GATA4, and NF-kB). Additional ILC and T cell coculture experiments showed similar findings even when contact was inhibited by a transwell membrane, suggesting that soluble molecules mediate these observations. Interrogating ILC2 and ILC3 for cytokine production demonstrated that IL-9 was produced by both populations and ILC-derived IL9 emerged as key regulator of T cell proliferation and senescence induction. More specifically, the inhibition of proliferation seen with ILCs was ameliorated with IL9 blocking antibodies (p<0.001) and replicated when T cells were cultured (in the absence of ILCs) with exogenous rhIL9 (p<0.01). Likewise, rhIL-9 upregulated the expression of senescence associated proteins in T cells (p21, p53, GATA4 and NFKb) and in short-term cultures rhIL-9 reduced the naïve T cell fraction while increasing the proportion of Tcm cells. Collectively, we show that human and mouse HSC-derived ILC2 and ILC3 cells mitigate GVHD through the induction of IL-9 mediated T cell senescence, thus offering promising insights into the development of off the shelf cellular therapies for GVHD.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

*signifies non-member of ASH