MHC class II-restricted antigen presentation is required to prevent dysfunction of cytotoxic T cells by blood-borne myeloids in brain tumors

Cancer immunotherapy critically depends on fitness of cytotoxic and helper T cell responses. Dysfunctional cytotoxic T cell states in the tumor microenvironment (TME) are a major cause of resistance to immunotherapy. Intratumoral myeloid cells, particularly blood-borne myeloids (bbm), are key drivers of T cell dysfunction in the TME. We show here that major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII)-restricted antigen presentation on bbm is essential to control the growth of brain tumors. Loss of MHCII on bbm drives dysfunctional intratumoral tumor-reactive CD8+ T cell states through increased chromatin accessibility and expression of Tox, a critical regulator of T cell exhaustion. Mechanistically, MHCII-dependent activation of CD4+ T cells restricts myeloid-derived osteopontin that triggers a chronic activation of NFAT2 in tumor-reactive CD8+ T cells. In summary, we provide evidence that MHCII-restricted antigen presentation on bbm is a key mechanism to directly maintain functional cytotoxic T cell states in brain tumors. [Display omitted] •MHCII on intratumoral blood-borne myeloids is required for anti-glioma T cell responses•Loss of myeloid MHCII drives dysfunction of CD8+ T cells by activating TOX•TOX is induced by osteopontin and chronic NFAT2 signaling in tumor-reactive CD8+ T cells•Osteopontin production is restricted by intratumoral T helper cell activation via MHCII Kilian et al. show that in brain tumors, loss of MHC class II drives TOX-mediated CD8+ T cell dysfunction by increased osteopontin expression. This study highlights that MHCII-restricted antigen presentation on brain tumor-associated myeloid cells is a key mechanism to maintain functional cytotoxic T cell states.