- Keenan, Bridget P;
- McCarthy, Elizabeth E;
- Ilano, Arielle;
- Yang, Hai;
- Zhang, Li;
- Allaire, Kathryn;
- Fan, Zenghua;
- Li, Tony;
- Lee, David S;
- Sun, Yang;
- Cheung, Alexander;
- Luong, Diamond;
- Chang, Hewitt;
- Chen, Brandon;
- Marquez, Jaqueline;
- Sheldon, Brenna;
- Kelley, Robin K;
- Ye, Chun Jimmie;
- Fong, Lawrence
Suppressive myeloid cells can contribute to immunotherapy resistance, but their role in response to checkpoint inhibition (CPI) in anti-PD-1 refractory cancers, such as biliary tract cancer (BTC), remains elusive. We use multiplexed single-cell transcriptomic and epitope sequencing to profile greater than 200,000 peripheral blood mononuclear cells from advanced BTC patients (n = 9) and matched healthy donors (n = 8). Following anti-PD-1 treatment, CD14+ monocytes expressing high levels of immunosuppressive cytokines and chemotactic molecules (CD14CTX) increase in the circulation of patients with BTC tumors that are CPI resistant. CD14CTX can directly suppress CD4+ T cells and induce SOCS3 expression in CD4+ T cells, rendering them functionally unresponsive. The CD14CTX gene signature associates with worse survival in patients with BTC as well as in other anti-PD-1 refractory cancers. These results demonstrate that monocytes arising after anti-PD-1 treatment can induce T cell paralysis as a distinct mode of tumor-mediated immunosuppression leading to CPI resistance.