β-Catenin in dendritic cells exerts opposite functions in cross-priming and maintenance of CD8⁺ T cells through regulation of IL-10

Recent studies have demonstrated that β-catenin in DCs serves as a key mediator in promoting both CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-cell tolerance, although how β-catenin exerts its functions remains incompletely understood. Here we report that activation of β-catenin in DCs inhibits cross-priming of CD8⁺ T cells by up-regulating mTOR-dependent IL-10, suggesting blocking β-catenin/mTOR/IL-10 signaling as a viable approach to augment CD8⁺ T-cell immunity. However, vaccination of DC–β-catenin−/−(CD11c-specific deletion of β-catenin) mice surprisingly failed to protect them against tumor challenge. Further studies revealed that DC–β-catenin−/−mice were deficient in generating CD8⁺ T-cell immunity despite normal clonal expansion, likely due to impaired IL-10 production by β-catenin−/−DCs. Deletion of β-catenin in DCs or blocking IL-10 after clonal expansion similarly led to reduced CD8⁺ T cells, suggesting that β-catenin in DCs plays a positive role in CD8⁺ T-cell maintenance postclonal expansion through IL-10. Thus, our study has not only identified mTOR/IL-10 as a previously unidentified mechanism for β-catenin–dependent inhibition of cross-priming, but also uncovered an unexpected positive role that β-catenin plays in maintenance of CD8⁺ T cells. Despite β-catenin’s opposite functions in regulating CD8⁺ T-cell responses, selectively blocking β-catenin with a pharmacological inhibitor during priming phase augmented DC vaccine-induced CD8⁺ T-cell immunity and improved antitumor efficacy, suggesting manipulating β-catenin signaling as a feasible therapeutic strategy to improve DC vaccine efficacy.