Human organoids with an autologous tissue-resident immune compartment

Abstract

The intimate relationship between the epithelium and immune system is crucial for maintaining tissue homeostasis, with perturbations therein linked to autoimmune disease and cancer^1-3. Whereas stem cell-derived organoids are powerful models of epithelial function⁴, they lack tissue-resident immune cells that are essential for capturing organ-level processes. We describe human intestinal immuno-organoids (IIOs), formed through self-organization of epithelial organoids and autologous tissue-resident memory T (T_RM) cells, a portion of which integrate within the epithelium and continuously survey the barrier. T_RM cell migration and interaction with epithelial cells was orchestrated by T_RM cell-enriched transcriptomic programs governing cell motility and adhesion. We combined IIOs and single-cell transcriptomics to investigate intestinal inflammation triggered by cancer-targeting biologics in patients. Inflammation was associated with the emergence of an activated population of CD8⁺ T cells that progressively acquired intraepithelial and cytotoxic features. The appearance of this effector population was preceded and potentiated by a T helper-1-like CD4⁺ population, which initially produced cytokines and subsequently became cytotoxic itself. As a system amenable to direct perturbation, IIOs allowed us to identify the Rho pathway as a new target for mitigation of immunotherapy-associated intestinal inflammation. Given that they recapitulate both the phenotypic outcomes and underlying interlineage immune interactions, IIOs can be used to study tissue-resident immune responses in the context of tumorigenesis and infectious and autoimmune diseases.