Dapl1 is a critical regulator of CD8 T cell function and exhaustion in cancer immunity

We report the application of 10x Genomics single-cell sequencing technology for high-throughput profiling of gene regulation difference between wildtype and Dapl1 deficient T cell in tumor microenvironments (TILs). Unsupervised clustering identified 6 clusters of CD8 TILs. We find that Dapl1 was predominantly expressed in a TCF1hi CD8 T cell cluster. The Dapl1 deficiency results in expansion of an effector memory-like CD8 TIL subpopulation and concomitant reduction in a subpopulation of exhausted CD8 TILs highlighting a role for Dapl1 in regulating the intratumoral dynamics of CD8 T cells. Examine the different gene expression profile between wildtype and Dapl1 deficient T cells in tumor microenvironments.