Friends not foes: CTLA-4 blockade and mTOR inhibition cooperate during CD8+ T cell priming

T cells receive numerous positive and negative signals during primary antigen encounter that control their proliferation and function, but how these signals are integrated to modulate T cell memory has not been fully characterized. In these studies, we demonstrate that combining seemingly opposite signals, CTLA-4 blockade and rapamycin-mediated mTOR inhibition, during in vivo T cell priming leads to both an increase in the frequency of memory CD8+ T cells and improved memory responses to tumors and bacterial challenges. This enhanced efficacy corresponds to increased early expansion and memory precursor differentiation of CD8+ T cells and increased mitochondrial biogenesis and spare respiratory capacity in memory CD8+ T cells in mice treated with anti-CTLA-4 and rapamycin during immunization. Collectively, these results reveal that mTOR inhibition cooperates with rather than antagonizes blockade of CTLA-4, promoting unrestrained effector function and proliferation and an optimal metabolic program for CD8+ T cell memory. Total RNA was isolated from FACS-sorted, antigen-specific CD8+T cells from different treatment conditions at 5 or 35 days after primary T cell activation