Eomesodermin together with KIR/NKG2A membrane receptors and CD49d as an useful strategy to identify NK-like CD8(+) T cells with innate features in humans: focusing on cancer diseases

Abstract

Among the burgeoning family of unconventional T cells, innate-like CD8(+) T cells bear a memory phenotype without having encountered a foreign antigen and can respond to innate-like IL-12+IL-18 stimulation. Although the concept of innate memory (IM) CD8(+) T cells is now well-established in mice, whether an equivalent memory NK-like T-cell population exists in humans remains under debate. We recently reported that CD8(+) T cells responding to innate-like IL-12+IL-18 stimulation and co-expressing the transcription factor Eomesodermin (Eomes) and KIR/NKG2A membrane receptors with a memory/EMRA phenotype may represent a new, functionally distinct innate T cell subset in humans. Here, we proposed Eomes together with KIR/NKG2A and CD49d as a signature to standardize the identification of this innate CD8(+) T-cell subset in humans. Focusing on cancer diseases, we have provided new insights into the potential role of these IM CD8(+) T cells in a physiopathological context in humans. Based on empirical data obtained in cases of chronic myeloid leukemia, a myeloproliferative syndrome controlled by the immune system, and in solid tumors, we have observed both the possible contribution of IM CD8(+) T cells to cancer disease control and their susceptibility to tumor immune subversion. Finally, we have investigated the involvement of IL-4 and IL-15 in the generation of the IM CD8(+) T cell pool and its dependency on promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger (PLZF)-expressing invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cells. All in all, this study significantly contributes to understanding of the physiopathological role of NK-like CD8(+) T cells in humans and raises the question of the possible involvement of an iNKT/IM CD8(+) T cell axis in cancer.