Very Late Antigen-1 Marks Functional Tumor-Resident CD8 T Cells and Correlates with Survival of Melanoma Patients

A major limiting factor in the success of immunotherapy is tumor infiltration by CD8(+) T cells, a process that remains poorly understood. In the present study, we characterized homing receptors expressed by human melanoma-specific CD8(+) T cells. Our data reveal that P-selectin binding and expression of the retention integrin, very late antigen (VLA)-1, by vaccine-induced T cells correlate with longer patient survival. Furthermore, we demonstrate that CD8(+)VLA-1(+) tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are highly enriched in melanoma metastases in diverse tissues. VLA-1-expressing TIL frequently co-express CD69 and CD103, indicating tissue-resident memory T cells (T(RM)) differentiation. We employed a mouse model of melanoma to further characterize VLA-1-expressing TIL. Our data show that VLA-1(+) T(RM) develop in murine tumors within 2 weeks, where they exhibit increased activation status, as well as superior effector functions. In addition, in vivo blockade of either VLA-1 or CD103 significantly impaired control of subcutaneous tumors. Together, our data indicate that VLA-1(+) T(RM) develop in tumors and play an important role in tumor immunity, presenting novel targets for the optimization of cancer immunotherapy.