Summary

Type I interferons (IFN-Is) are central regulators of anti-tumor immunity and responses to immunotherapy, but they also drive the feedback inhibition underlying therapeutic resistance. In the present study, we developed a mass cytometry approach to quantify IFN-I-stimulated protein expression across immune cells and used multi-omics to uncover pre-therapy cellular states encoding responsiveness to inflammation. Analyzing peripheral blood cells from multiple cancer types revealed that differential responsiveness to IFN-Is before anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) treatment was highly predictive of long-term survival after therapy. Unexpectedly, IFN-I hyporesponsiveness efficiently predicted long-term survival, whereas high responsiveness to IFN-I was strongly associated with treatment failure and diminished survival time. Peripheral IFN-I responsive states were not associated with tumor inflammation, identifying a disconnect between systemic immune potential and 'cold' or 'hot' tumor states. Mechanistically, IFN-I responsiveness was epigenetically imprinted before therapy, poising cells for differential inflammatory responses and dysfunctional T cell effector programs. Thus, we identify physiological cell states with clinical importance that can predict success and long-term survival of PD1-blocking immunotherapy.

Overall design

8 patient PBMCs (4 with high IFN-I response capacity (IRC) and 4 with low IRC) and 2 healthy donor PBMCs were sequenced through multiome (scRNA + scATAC) sequencing. Briefly, cryopreseved PBMCs were thawed and 10X multiome seuqencing workflow was performed following DNAse treatment according to the manufacturer's protocol. Processing and sequencing was performed by the Princess Margaret Cancer Center Genomics Core.

Contributors

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Contact

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