Oral Presentation The Melbourne Immunotherapy Network Winter Symposium 2019

Melanoma Immunosurveillance by CD4+ T cells (#26)

Emma Bawden 1 2 3 , Maike Effern 1 2 3 , Katharina Hochheiser 1 , Michael Hölzel 2 3 , Thomas Gebhardt 1
  1. Microbiology and Immunology, The Doherty Institute, the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  2. Institute of Experimental Oncology (IEO), University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
  3. Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology, Unit for RNA Biology, University Hospital of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

CD4+T cells play a role in melanoma immunosurveillance in mice and humans. The precise underlying anti-tumoral mechanism of CD4+T cells remains a subject of debate. Discrepancies in findings could be attributed to the heterogeneity of the CD4+T cell lineage and thus their sensitivities to differences in tumor microenvironments. By using a novel orthotopic murine model, that closely resembles the location and progression of melanoma in humans, we are attempting to disentangle the uncertainty surrounding the mechanism of melanoma immunosurveillance by CD4+ T cells. In this model we have shown that antigen-specific CD4+T cells are able to migrate into the skin and control epicutaneously-lodged melanoma cells. We found that MHC-II expression by melanoma cells increases infiltration of CD4+T cells into the tumor and can enhance immune control. However, our results indicate that MHC-II expression by melanoma cells is not a prerequisite for the anti-tumoral function of CD4+T cells and thus this project seeks to elucidate the antigen-presenting cells involved in presentation of tumor antigens to CD4+ T cells. Finally, we explore the intrinsic tumor cell-killing mechanism of CD4+T cells as well as their cross-talk with other immune cells to mediate melanoma control.