OXPHOS Promotes Apoptotic Resistance and Persistence in TH17 cells

Apoptotic cell death is a cell-intrinsic, immune tolerance mechanism that regulates the magnitude and resolution of T cell-mediated responses. Evasion of apoptosis is critical for the generation of memory T cells, as well as autoimmune T cells, and knowledge of the mechanisms that enable resistance to apoptosis will provide insight into ways to modulate their activity during protective and pathogenic responses. IL-17-producing CD4 T cells (TH17s) are long-lived, memory cells. These features enable their role in host defense, chronic inflammatory disorders, and anti-tumor immunity. A growing number of reports now indicate that TH17s in vivo require mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), a metabolic phenotype that is poorly induced in vitro. To elucidate the role of OXPHOS in TH17 processes, we developed a system to polarize TH17s that metabolically resembled their in vivo counterparts. We discovered that directing TH17s to use OXPHOS promotes mitochondrial fitness, glutamine anaplerosis, and an anti-apoptotic phenotype marked by high BCL-XL and low BIM. Through competitive co-transfer experiments and tumor studies, we further revealed how OXPHOS protects TH17s from cell death while enhancing their persistence in the periphery and tumor microenvironment. Together, our work demonstrates a non-classical role of metabolism in regulating TH17 cell fate and highlights the potential for therapies that target OXPHOS in TH17-driven diseases.