Summary
Mitochondrial loss and dysfunction drive T cell exhaustion, representing major barriers to successful T cell-based immunotherapies. Here, we describe an innovative platform to supply exogenous mitochondria toT cells, overcoming these limitations. We found that bone marrow stromal cells establish nanotubular con-nections with T cells and leverage these intercellular highways to transplant stromal cell mitochondria intoCD8 + T cells. Optimal mitochondrial transfer required Talin 2 on both donor and recipient cells. CD8+ T cells with donated mitochondria displayed enhanced mitochondrial respiration and spare respiratory capacity. When transferred into tumor-bearing hosts, these supercharged T cells expanded more robustly, infiltrated the tumor more efficiently, and exhibited fewer signs of exhaustion compared with T cells that did not take up mitochondria. As a result, mitochondria-boosted CD8+ T cells mediated superior antitumor responses, prolonging animal survival. These findings establish intercellular mitochondrial transfer as a prototype of organelle medicine, opening avenues to next-generation cell therapies.
参考文献
Baldwin JG, Heuser-Loy C, Saha T, Schelker RC, Slavkovic-Lukic D, Strieder N, Hernandez-Lopez I, Rana N, Barden M, Mastrogiovanni F, Martín-Santos A, Raimondi A, Brohawn P, Higgs BW, Gebhard C, Kapoor V, Telford WG, Gautam S, Xydia M, Beckhove P, Frischholz S, Schober K, Kontarakis Z, Corn JE, Iannacone M, Inverso D, Rehli M, Fioravanti J, Sengupta S, Gattinoni L. Intercellular nanotube-mediated mitochondrial transfer enhances T cell metabolic fitness and antitumor efficacy. Cell. 2024 Sep 12:S0092-8674(24)00956-5. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.08.029.
