Emerging evidence suggests an immunosuppressive role of altered
tumor glycosylation due to downregulation of innate immune responses via immunoregulatory
Siglecs. In contrast, human T cells, a major anticancer effector cell, only rarely express
Siglecs. However, here, we report that the majority of intratumoral, but not peripheral blood, cytotoxic CD8+ T cells expressed Siglec-9 in
melanoma. We identified
Siglec-9+ CD8+ T cells as a subset of effector memory cells with high functional capacity and signatures of clonal expansion. This cytotoxic T-cell subset was functionally inhibited in the presence of Siglec-9
ligands or by Siglec-9 engagement by specific
antibodies. TCR signaling pathways and key effector functions (cytotoxicity,
cytokine production) of CD8+ T cells were suppressed by Siglec-9 engagement, which was associated with the phosphorylation of the inhibitory
protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1, but not SHP-2. Expression of cognate Siglec-9
ligands was observed on the majority of
tumor cells in primary and metastatic
melanoma specimens. Targeting the
tumor-restricted, glycosylation-dependent Siglec-9 axis may unleash this intratumoral T-cell subset, while confining T-cell activation to the tumor microenvironment.