Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Video Abstracts
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • Substance Use Disorders (Oct 2024)
    • Clonal Hematopoiesis (Oct 2024)
    • Sex Differences in Medicine (Sep 2024)
    • Vascular Malformations (Apr 2024)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Video Abstracts
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact

Citations to this article

CD73 immune checkpoint defines regulatory NK cells within the tumor microenvironment
Shi Yong Neo, … , Johan Hartman, Andreas Lundqvist
Shi Yong Neo, … , Johan Hartman, Andreas Lundqvist
Published November 26, 2019
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2020;130(3):1185-1198. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI128895.
View: Text | PDF
Research Article Immunology

CD73 immune checkpoint defines regulatory NK cells within the tumor microenvironment

  • Text
  • PDF
Abstract

High levels of ecto-5′-nucleotidase (CD73) have been implicated in immune suppression and tumor progression, and have also been observed in cancer patients who progress on anti–PD-1 immunotherapy. Although regulatory T cells can express CD73 and inhibit T cell responses via the production of adenosine, less is known about CD73 expression in other immune cell populations. We found that tumor-infiltrating NK cells upregulate CD73 expression and the frequency of these CD73-positive NK cells correlated with larger tumor size in breast cancer patients. In addition, the expression of multiple alternative immune checkpoint receptors including LAG-3, VISTA, PD-1, and PD-L1 was significantly higher in CD73-positive NK cells than in CD73-negative NK cells. Mechanistically, NK cells transport CD73 in intracellular vesicles to the cell surface and the extracellular space via actin polymerization–dependent exocytosis upon engagement of 4-1BBL on tumor cells. These CD73-positive NK cells undergo transcriptional reprogramming and upregulate IL-10 production via STAT3 transcriptional activity, suppressing CD4-positive T cell proliferation and IFN-γ production. Taken together, our results support the notion that tumors can hijack NK cells as a means to escape immunity and that CD73 expression defines an inducible population of NK cells with immunoregulatory properties within the tumor microenvironment.

Authors

Shi Yong Neo, Ying Yang, Julien Record, Ran Ma, Xinsong Chen, Ziqing Chen, Nicholas P. Tobin, Emily Blake, Christina Seitz, Ron Thomas, Arnika Kathleen Wagner, John Andersson, Jana de Boniface, Jonas Bergh, Shannon Murray, Evren Alici, Richard Childs, Martin Johansson, Lisa S. Westerberg, Felix Haglund, Johan Hartman, Andreas Lundqvist

×

Loading citation information...
Advertisement

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts