Cancer cells hijack mitochondria from Bhlhe40+ T cells for immune evasion

Abstract

Cancer cells hijack mitochondria from T cells via tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) to promote immune evasion, yet the underlying mechanisms of mitochondrial-loss remain poorly understood. Here, through targeted screening of relevant genes, we demonstrated that CD38 is a potent regulator of TNT formation through interaction with its cognate ligand, CD31. Conditional knockdown of Cd38 in murine models leads to CD8+ T cell-dependent tumor shrinkage. Single-cell RNA sequencing of tumor-infiltrating T cells revealed that cancer cells preferentially target the Bhlhe40+ effector subset. Bhlhe40 is a transcription factor that upregulates the expression of S100a4, a reported chemoattractant of nanotubes. Bhlhe40 upregulation creates mitochondrial-loss vulnerability for tumor neoantigen-specific T cells. Dual mitochondria transfer blockade with Cd38 knockdown and S100a4 inhibitor trifluoperazine markedly suppressed tumor growth. Collectively, our findings identified the Bhlhe40-S100a4 cascade as a critical regulator of cancer/T cell mitochondrial transfer, providing insights for the development of new cancer immunotherapies.