Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Pancreatic tumors are minimally infiltrated by T cells and are largely refractory to immunotherapy. Accordingly, the role of T-cell immunity in pancreatic cancer has been somewhat overlooked. Here, we hypothesized that immune resistance in pancreatic cancer was induced in response to antitumor T-cell immune responses, and that understanding how pancreatic tumors respond to immune attack may facilitate the development of more effective therapeutic strategies. We now provide evidence that T cell-dependent host immune responses induce a PDAC-derived myeloid mimicry phenomenon and stimulate immune resistance. Three KPC mouse models of pancreatic cancer were employed: the mT3–2D (
Kras
+/LSL-G12D
;
Trp53
+/LSL-R172H
;
Pdx1-Cre)
subcutaneous and orthotopic models, as well as the KP1 (p48-
CRE
/
LSL
-
Kras
/
Trp53
flox/flox
) subcutaneous model. KPC cancer cells were grown in immunocompetent and immunodeficient C57BL/6 mice and analyzed to determine the impact of adaptive immunity on malignant epithelial cells, as well as on whole tumors. We found that induced T-cell antitumor immunity, via signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (
STAT1
), stimulated malignant epithelial pancreatic cells to induce the expression of genes typically expressed by myeloid cells and altered intratumoral immunosuppressive myeloid cell profiles. Targeting the Janus Kinase (JAK)/STAT signaling pathway using the FDA approved drug ruxolitinib overcame these tumor-protective responses and improved anti-PD-1 therapeutic efficacy. These findings provide future directions for treatments that specifically disable this mechanism of resistance in PDAC.