@article{HeuserGototPiotrowskietal.2017, author = {Heuser, Christoph and Gotot, Janine and Piotrowski, Eveline Christina and Philipp, Marie-Sophie and Courr{\`e}ges, Christina Johanna Felicia and Otte, Martin Sylvester and Guo, Linlin and Schmid-Burgk, Jonathan Leo and Hornung, Veit and Heine, Annkristin and Knolle, Percy Alexander and Garbi, Natalio and Serfling, Edgar and Evaristo, C{\´e}sar and Thaiss, Friedrich and Kurts, Christian}, title = {Prolonged IKK\(\beta\) Inhibition Improves Ongoing CTL Antitumor Responses by Incapacitating Regulatory T Cells}, series = {Cell Reports}, volume = {21}, journal = {Cell Reports}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1016/j.celrep.2017.09.082}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-173643}, pages = {578-586}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Regulatory T cells (Tregs) prevent autoimmunity but limit antitumor immunity. The canonical NF-\(\kappa\)B signaling pathway both activates immunity and promotes thymic Treg development. Here, we report that mature Tregs continue to require NF-\(\kappa\)B signaling through I\(\kappa\)B-kinase \(\beta\) (IKK\(\beta\)) after thymic egress. Mice lacking IKK\(\beta\) in mature Tregs developed scurfy-like immunopathology due to death of peripheral FoxP3\(^+\) Tregs. Also, pharmacological IKK\(\beta\) inhibition reduced Treg numbers in the circulation by ~50\% and downregulated FoxP3 and CD25 expression and STAT5 phosphorylation. In contrast, activated cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) were resistant to IKK\(\beta\) inhibition because other pathways, in particular nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFATc1) signaling, sustained their survival and expansion. In a melanoma mouse model, IKK\(\beta\) inhibition after CTL cross-priming improved the antitumor response and delayed tumor growth. In conclusion, prolonged IKK\(\beta\) inhibition decimates circulating Tregs and improves CTL responses when commenced after tumor vaccination, indicating that IKK\(\beta\) represents a druggable checkpoint.}, language = {en} }