{"id":54054,"date":"2026-01-22T00:50:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/01\/22\/regulatory-t-cell-sensing-of-extracellular-atp-via-p2rx7-promotes-their-accumulation-and-suppression-and-drives-lung-tumor-growth\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T00:50:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:50:52","slug":"regulatory-t-cell-sensing-of-extracellular-atp-via-p2rx7-promotes-their-accumulation-and-suppression-and-drives-lung-tumor-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/01\/22\/regulatory-t-cell-sensing-of-extracellular-atp-via-p2rx7-promotes-their-accumulation-and-suppression-and-drives-lung-tumor-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Regulatory T-cell sensing of extracellular ATP via P2RX7 promotes their accumulation and suppression and drives lung tumor growth"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><b>Cancer Immunol Res<\/b>. 2026 Jan 21. doi: 10.1158\/2326-6066.CIR-25-0567. Online ahead of print.<\/p>\n<p><b>ABSTRACT<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and, despite advances in treatment, immune suppression remains an obstacle to effective therapy. Effector CD4+ T cells (CD4+ Teffs) are critical for antitumor immunity, but their function is often inhibited by regulatory T cells (Tregs), which accumulate in lung tumors and mediate suppressive functions through multiple mechanisms. This suppression leads to tumor progression and poor patient outcomes. However, the mechanisms underlying Treg-mediated suppression are not fully understood. Herein, we identify the extracellular ATP receptor P2RX7 as a key regulator of Treg function in lung tumors. In a murine lung cancer model induced by Lewis lung carcinoma cells, we found that P2RX7 enhanced the suppressive capacity of tumor-infiltrating Tregs, promoting tumor growth. In T cell-specific P2RX7-KO mice, reduced Treg infiltration was accompanied by increased CD4+ Teff accumulation and improved tumor control. Treg-specific P2RX7-KO mice exhibited reduced tumor growth, confirming a Treg-intrinsic role of P2RX7. Suppression assays revealed that tumor-infiltrating wild-type Tregs had greater suppressive activity compared to P2RX7-KO Tregs, which failed to inhibit type 1 and Tfh-like responses. This was associated with increased tumor-specific IgG production by lung B cells in P2RX7-KO mice. We also observed that wild-type Tregs expressed higher levels of the immunosuppressive molecule CTLA-4 when compared to P2RX7-KO Tregs. Thus, we conclude that P2RX7 expression on Tregs is essential for their suppressive function in lung cancer and targeting of P2RX7 may constitute a strategy to improve lung cancer treatment by alleviating Treg-mediated immune suppression.<\/p>\n<p>PMID:<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/41564348\/?utm_source=SimplePie&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_content=101614637&amp;ff=20260121185051&amp;v=2.18.0.post22+67771e2\">41564348<\/a> | DOI:<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1158\/2326-6066.CIR-25-0567\">10.1158\/2326-6066.CIR-25-0567<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cancer Immunol Res. 2026 Jan 21. doi: 10.1158\/2326-6066.CIR-25-0567. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and, despite advances in treatment, immune suppression remains an obstacle to effective therapy. Effector CD4+ T cells (CD4+ Teffs) are critical for antitumor immunity, but their function is often inhibited by regulatory &#8230; <a title=\"Regulatory T-cell sensing of extracellular ATP via P2RX7 promotes their accumulation and suppression and drives lung tumor growth\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/01\/22\/regulatory-t-cell-sensing-of-extracellular-atp-via-p2rx7-promotes-their-accumulation-and-suppression-and-drives-lung-tumor-growth\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Regulatory T-cell sensing of extracellular ATP via P2RX7 promotes their accumulation and suppression and drives lung tumor growth\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cancer-immunology-reserch","category-publicaciones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}