Enhanced T cell immune activity mediated by Drp1 promotes the efficacy of PD-1 inhibitors in treating lung cancer

Background: Dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1)-mediated mitochondrial fission plays important roles in the activation, proliferation, and migration of T cells.

Methods: We investigated the synergistic effect of Drp1-mediated T cell antitumor activities and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade for treating lung cancer through in vitro co-culture experiments and an in vivo nude mouse xenograft model.

Results: High expression levels of Drp1 positively regulated T cell activation, enhanced T cell-induced suppression of lung cancer cells, promoted CD8⁺ T cell infiltration in the tumor and spleen, and significantly enhanced the antitumor immune response of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab. The mechanism of this synergistic antitumor effect involved the secretion of immune killing-related cytokines and the regulation of the PD-1-ERK/Drp1 pathway in T cells.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that modifying Drp1 expression in T cells could serve as a potential therapeutic target for enhancing the antitumor immune response in future immunotherapies.