The biotherapeutic Clostridium butyricum MIYAIRI 588 strain potentiates enterotropism of Rorγt+Treg and PD-1 blockade efficacy.

ABSTRACT

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have been positioned as a standard of care for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC). A pilot clinical trial has reflected optimistic association between supplementation with Clostridium butyricum MIYAIRI 588 (CBM588) and ICI efficacy in NSCLC. However, it remains to be established whether this biotherapeutic strain may be sufficient to heighten the immunogenicity of the tumor draining lymph nodes to overcome resistance to ICI. Herein, we report that supplementation with CBM588 led to an improved responsiveness to antibody targeting programmed cell death protein 1 (aPD-1). This was statistically associated with a significant decrease in α-diversity of gut microbiota from CBM588-treated mice upon PD-1 blockade. At the level of the tumor-draining lymph node, such combination of treatment significantly lowered the frequency of microbiota-modulated subset of regulatory T cells that express Retinoic Orphan Receptor gamma t (Rorγt+ Treg). Specifically, this strongly immunosuppressive was negatively correlated with the abundance of bacteria that belong to the family of Ruminococcaceae. Accordingly, the colonic expression of both indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase 1 (IDO-1) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were heightened in mice with greater PD-1 blockade efficacy. The CBM588-induced ability to secrete Interleukin-10 of lamina propria mononuclear cells was heightened in tumor bearers when compared with cancer-free mice. Conversely, blockade of interleukin-10 signaling preferentially enhanced the capacity of CD8+ T cells to secrete Interferon gamma when being cocultured with CBM588-primed lamina propria mononuclear cells of tumor-bearing mice. Our results demonstrate that CBM588-centered intervention can adequately improve intestinal homeostasis and efficiently overcome resistance to PD-1 blockade in mice.