A color-coded reporter model to study the effect of immunosuppressants on CD8+ T-cell memory in antitumor and alloimmune responses

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors possess anticancer properties potentially useful in reducing posttransplantation malignancy. Besides controlling tumor-sensitive proliferative and angiogenic effects, mTOR influences transcription factors T-bet and Eomesodermin (Eomes) in CD8 cytotoxic T cells (Tc), which are key in rejecting tumors, and allografts. To study the role of mTOR in tumor and transplant immunity in an antigen-specific way, we used T-cell receptor transgenic B6.OTI recipients, B6.OVA.TG donors, and OVA-B16F10 melanoma cells. For tracking color-coded OTI-Tc cells associated with antitumor and alloimmunity in vivo, CD8-OTI transgenic reporter mice were created by crossbreeding DsRed-expressing B6.Nagy mice with B6.OTI mice. The role of mTOR in regulating the differentiation and function of alloreactive Tc cells in vitro was explored by stimulating OTI-Tc cells with ovalbumin-transgenic antigen-presenting cells in the presence of rapamycin or tacrolimus. Rapamycin, but not tacrolimus, induced a pro-antitumor phenotypic shift from CD62LCD44 effector memory Tc cells to CD62LCD44 central memory Tc cells, which featured up-regulated levels of T-bet and Eomes and preserved levels of interferon-γ and perforin. For future investigations, an in vivo model was established whereby DsRedOTI-Tc cells adoptively transferred into B6 mice bearing either a ovalbumin-transgenic mouse skin transplant or OVA-B16F10 tumor could be traced by fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis as effector or memory Tc cells in transplant and tumor tissues. mTOR, but not calcineurin, inhibition spares antitumoral memory Tc cells by distinctively regulating T-bet and Eomes. This finding is now testable in a new tumor transplant model, which incorporates DsRedOTI-Tc cell tracing, opening the way to study the differential effects of immunosuppressants in posttransplantation malignancy.