@article {Miyaie202101230, author = {Yuki Miyai and Daisuke Sugiyama and Tetsunari Hase and Naoya Asai and Tetsuro Taki and Kazuki Nishida and Takayuki Fukui and Toyofumi Fengshi Chen-Yoshikawa and Hiroki Kobayashi and Shinji Mii and Yukihiro Shiraki and Yoshinori Hasegawa and Hiroyoshi Nishikawa and Yuichi Ando and Masahide Takahashi and Atsushi Enomoto}, title = {Meflin-positive cancer-associated fibroblasts enhance tumor response to immune checkpoint blockade}, volume = {5}, number = {6}, elocation-id = {e202101230}, year = {2022}, doi = {10.26508/lsa.202101230}, publisher = {Life Science Alliance}, abstract = {Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are an integral component of the tumor microenvironment (TME). Most CAFs shape the TME toward an immunosuppressive milieu and attenuate the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. However, the detailed mechanism of how heterogeneous CAFs regulate tumor response to ICB therapy has not been defined. Here, we show that a recently defined CAF subset characterized by the expression of Meflin, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein marker of mesenchymal stromal/stem cells, is associated with survival and favorable therapeutic response to ICB monotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The prevalence of Meflin-positive CAFs was positively correlated with CD4-positive T-cell infiltration and vascularization within non-small cell lung cancer tumors. Meflin deficiency and CAF-specific Meflin overexpression resulted in defective and enhanced ICB therapy responses in syngeneic tumors in mice, respectively. These findings suggest the presence of a CAF subset that promotes ICB therapy efficacy, which adds to our understanding of CAF functions and heterogeneity.}, URL = {https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/5/6/e202101230}, eprint = {https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/5/6/e202101230.full.pdf}, journal = {Life Science Alliance} }