2021/02/05 by Ri‐Yao Yang, Linlin Sun, Ching-Fei Li +14 · 6 citations
Engineering · Immunology and Microbiology · #Aluminum Alloys Composites Properties #Galectins and Cancer Biology #Silicon Carbide Semiconductor Technologies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21099-2
openalex publication_date 2021/02/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Abstract The two T cell inhibitory receptors PD-1 and TIM-3 are co-expressed during exhausted T cell differentiation, and recent evidence suggests that their crosstalk regulates T cell exhaustion and immunotherapy efficacy; however, the molecular mechanism is unclear. Here we show that PD-1 contributes to the persistence of PD-1 + TIM-3 + T cells by binding to the TIM-3 ligand galectin-9 (Gal-9) and attenuates Gal-9/TIM-3-induced cell death. Anti-Gal-9 therapy selectively expands intratumoral TIM-3 + cytotoxic CD8 T cells and immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (T reg cells). The combination of anti-Gal-9 and an agonistic antibody to the co-stimulatory receptor GITR (glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor-related protein) that depletes T reg cells induces synergistic antitumor activity. Gal-9 expression and secretion are promoted by interferon β and γ, and high Gal-9 expression correlates with poor prognosis in multiple human cancers. Our work uncovers a function for PD-1 in exhausted T cell survival and suggests Gal-9 as a promising target for immunotherapy.