The CD155/TIGIT Axis Promotes and Maintains Immune Evasion in Neoantigen-Expressing Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

The CD155/TIGIT axis can be co-opted during immune evasion in chronic viral infections and cancer. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal malignancy, and immune-based strategies to combat this disease have been largely unsuccessful to date. We corroborate prior reports that a substantial portion of PDAC harbors predicted high affinity MHC class I-restricted neoepitopes and extend these findings to advanced/metastatic disease. Using two novel preclinical models of neoantigen-expressing PDAC, we demonstrate that intratumoral neoantigen-specific CD8+ T cells adopt multiple states of dysfunction, which are similar to tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes of human PDAC patients. Mechanistically, genetic and/or pharmacologic modulation of the CD155/TIGIT axis was sufficient to promote immune evasion in autochthonous neoantigen-expressing PDAC. Finally, we demonstrate that the CD155/TIGIT axis is critical to maintain immune evasion in PDAC and uncover a combination immunotherapy (TIGIT/PD-1 co-blockade plus CD40 agonism) that elicits profound anti-tumor responses in preclinical models, now poised for clinical evaluation.