IL22 promotes kras-mutant lung cancer by induction of a protumor immune response and protection of stemness properties

Somatic KRAS mutations are the most common oncogenic variants in lung cancer and are associated with poor prognosis. Using a Kras-induced lung cancer mouse model, CC-LR, we previously showed a role for inflammation in lung tumorigenesis through activation of the NF-kB pathway, along with induction of interleukin 6 (IL6) and an IL17-producing CD4+ T-helper cell response. IL22 is an effector molecule secreted by CD4+ and γδ T cells that we previously found to be expressed in CC-LR mice. IL22 mostly signals through the STAT3 pathway and is thought to act exclusively on non-hematopoietic cells with basal IL22 receptor (IL22R) expression on epithelial cells. Here, we found that higher expression of IL22R1 in patients with KRAS mutant lung adenocarcinoma was an independent indicator of poor recurrence-free survival. We then showed that genetic ablation of Il22 in CC-LR mice (CC-LR/IL22KO mice) caused a significant reduction in tumor number and size. This was accompanied by significantly lower tumor cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and STAT3 activation. Il22 ablation was also associated with significant reduction in lung-infiltrating inflammatory cells and expression of pro-tumor inflammatory cytokines. Conversely, this was accompanied with increased antitumor Th1 and cytotoxic CD8+ T cell responses, while suppressing the pro-tumor immunosuppressive T regulatory cell response. In CC-LR/IL22KO mice, we found significantly reduced expression of core stemness genes and the number of prototypical SPC+CCSP+ stem cells. Thus, we conclude that IL22 promotes Kras mutant lung tumorigenesis by driving a pro-tumor inflammatory microenvironment with proliferative, angiogenic, and stemness contextual cues in epithelial/tumor cells.