Combination anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 therapy generates waves of clonal responses that include progenitor-exhausted CD8+ T cells

Combination checkpoint blockade with anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies has shown promising efficacy in melanoma. However, the underlying mechanism in humans remains unclear. Here, we perform paired single-cell RNA and T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing across time in 36 patients with stage IV melanoma treated with anti-PD-1, anti-CTLA-4, or combination therapy. We develop the algorithm Cyclone to track temporal clonal dynamics and underlying cell states. Checkpoint blockade induces waves of clonal T cell responses that peak at distinct time points. Combination therapy results in greater magnitude of clonal responses at 6 and 9 weeks compared to single-agent therapies, including melanoma-specific CD8+ T cells and exhausted CD8+ T cell (TEX) clones. Focused analyses of TEX identify that anti-CTLA-4 induces robust expansion and proliferation of progenitor TEX, which synergizes with anti-PD-1 to reinvigorate TEX during combination therapy. These next generation immune profiling approaches can guide the selection of drugs, schedule, and dosing for novel combination strategies.