Immune therapy is rapidly gaining prominence in the clinic as a major weapon against cancer. Whereas much attention has been focused on the infiltration of tumors by immune cells, the subsequent fate of these infiltrates remains largely unexplored. We therefore established a photoconversion-based model that allowed us to label tumor-infiltrating immune cells and follow their migration. Using this system, we identified a population of tumor-experienced cells that emigrate from primary tumors to draining lymph nodes via afferent lymphatic vessels. Although the majority of tumor-infiltrating cells were myeloid, T cells made up the largest population of tumor-egressing leukocytes. Strikingly, the subset composition of tumor-egressing T cells was greatly skewed compared with those that had infiltrated the tumor and those resident in the draining lymph node. Some T-cell subsets such as CD8+ T cells emigrated more readily; others including CD4-CD8- T cells were preferentially retained, suggesting that specific mechanisms guide immune cell egress from tumors. Furthermore, tumor-egressing T cells were more activated and displayed enhanced effector function in comparison with their lymph node counterparts. Finally, we demonstrated that tumor-infiltrating T cells migrate to distant secondary tumors and draining lymph nodes, highlighting a mechanism whereby tumor-experienced effector T cells may mediate antitumor immunity at metastatic sites. Thus, our results provide insights into migration and function of tumor-infiltrating immune cells and the role of these cells in tumor immunity outside of primary tumor deposits.

Author Info: (1) Immunology Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia. St. Vincent's Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales

Author Info: (1) Immunology Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia. St. Vincent's Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales Sydney, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia. (2) Immunology Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia. St. Vincent's Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales Sydney, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia. (3) Immunology Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia. (4) Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Osaka Ohtani University, Tondabayashi City, Osaka Prefecture 584-8540, Japan. (5) Immunology Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia. St. Vincent's Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales Sydney, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia. (6) Immunology Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia; t.chtanova@garvan.org.au. St. Vincent's Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales Sydney, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia.