A Conserved Landscape of Chemokine Receptor Co-expression Defines the Functional States of CD8+ T Cells in Melanoma

Abstract

Cancer immunotherapies, from checkpoint blockade to adoptive cell therapies like tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), have revolutionized cancer treatment but are limited by variable efficacy and significant toxicities. A central challenge is identifying ideal T-cell populations that effectively eliminate tumors without causing off-target damage, a distinction not captured by existing biomarkers. We show that co-expression patterns of chemokine receptors (CRs) CXCR3, CCR5, and CXCR6 on CD8+ T cells provide a functional "code" defining subsets with divergent roles in on-target immunity versus off-target inflammation. In mouse and human melanoma, a triple-positive (CXCR3+CCR5+CXCR6+) T-cell subset is essential for tumor control, and its genetic signature correlates with positive clinical response, while a distinct CCR5+CXCR6+ subset drives liver immune-related adverse events (IRAEs). Crucially, this CR code reveals that immunotherapy actively reshapes T-cell trafficking patterns, uncovering profound heterogeneity within conventional populations and distinguishing potent anti-tumor progenitors from cells predisposed to exhaustion or off-target migration. This work establishes CR co-expression as a practical tool, providing a surface marker-based strategy to identify and enrich optimized T cells for adoptive therapies, thereby offering a framework to uncouple efficacy from toxicity. One Sentence SummaryCo-expression of CCR5, CXCR6, and CXCR3 provides a functional code that separates T-cell-mediated anti-tumor efficacy from off-target toxicity, enabling the selection of superior cells for safer and more effective cancer immunotherapies. Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=120 SRC="FIGDIR/small/693486v2_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (29K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@19b0f44org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1076129org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@17c0be6org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@f14893_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG HighlightsO_LI{middle dot} CXCR6, CXCR3 and CCR5 co-expression signature stratifies patient survival in human melanoma C_LIO_LI{middle dot} CD8+ T cells co-expressing CXCR6, CXCR3 and CCR5 are critical effectors with high proliferative, cytotoxic, and activation profile in human and mice melanoma C_LIO_LI{middle dot} CD8+ T cells co-expressing CXCR6, CXCR3 and CCR5 drive anti-tumoral responses during checkpoint blockade in both human and mice C_LI