Systemic CD4 Immunity as a Key Contributor to PD-L1/PD-1 Blockade Immunotherapy Efficacy

PD-L1/PD-1 blockade immunotherapy has significantly improved treatment outcome for several cancer types compared to conventional cytotoxic therapies. However, the specific molecular and cellular mechanisms behind its efficacy are currently unclear. There is increasing evidence in murine models and in patients that unveil the key importance of systemic immunity to achieve clinical responses under several types of immunotherapy. Indeed, PD-L1/PD-1 blockade induces the expansion of systemic CD8+ PD-1+ T cell subpopulations which might be responsible for direct anti-tumor responses. However, the role of CD4+ T cells in PD-L1/PD-1 blockade-induced anti-tumor responses has been less documented. In this review we focus on the experimental data supporting the “often suspected” indispensable helper function of CD4 T cells towards CD8 effector anti-tumor responses in cancer; and particularly, we highlight the recently published studies uncovering the key contribution of systemic CD4 T cells to clinical efficacy in PD-L1/PD-1 blockade therapies. We conclude and propose that the presence of specific CD4 T cell memory subsets in peripheral blood before the initiation of treatments is a strong predictor of responses in non-small cell lung cancer patients. Therefore, development of new approaches to improve CD4 responses before PD-L1/PD-1 blockade therapy could be the solution to increase response rates and survival of patients.