The C-C motif chemokine receptor 8 (CCR8) is a member of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) family. The C-C motif chemokine ligands (CCLs), including CCL1, CCL8, CCL16, and CCL18 are known as ligands for human CCR8. CCL1 is the only ligand for CCR8,[
1] which is produced by CD11b
+CD14
+ myeloid cells during the infiltration of regulatory T (Treg) cells into tumor.[
2] Upon binding of CCL1 to CCR8, the FOXP3 is upregulated by the STAT3 pathway, and the activated CCR8
+ Treg cells potently suppress antitumor immunity through secretion of granzyme B and IL-10.[
3] Increased expression of CCR8 is observed in Treg cells, especially in cancer patients.[
4] Patients with high levels of Treg cells exhibit poor prognoses and clinical outcomes in several cancers.[
5] Therefore, it has been proposed that depletion of tumor-infiltrated Treg cells could restore antitumor immunity and improve responses to tumor immunotherapy.[
6] Recent preclinical mouse models have revealed that depletion of Treg cells using an anti-mouse CCR8 (mCCR8) monoclonal antibody (mAb) exhibited strong antitumor responses through dramatic changes of the intratumor CD8
+ T cell profile[
7] or enhanced the antitumor effects of anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) therapy.[
8]
The understanding of the structural-based CCR activation is important for the development of therapeutic agents. Among the CCR family members, CCR2 and CCR5 have been structurally solved in both inactive and active states,[
9,
10,
11,
12] while inactive-state of CCR7 and CCR9, and active-state of CCR1 and CCR6 structures are also characterized.[
13,
14,
15,
16] Furthermore, the structures of CCR8 in complex with either the antagonistic mAb or the endogenous ligand CCL1 were determined, which provides the specific activation mechanism by CCL1 and inhibition by mAb.[
17]
We have developed anti-mouse GPCR mAbs against CCR1 (clone C
1Mab-6),[
18] CCR3 (clones C
3Mab-2, C
3Mab-3, and C
3Mab-4),[
19,
20,
21] CCR8 (clones C
8Mab-1, C
8Mab-2, and C
8Mab-3),[
22,
23,
24] CXCR1 (clone Cx
1Mab-1),[
25] CXCR3 (clone Cx
3Mab-4),[
26] and CXCR4 (clone Cx
4Mab-1)[
27] using the Cell-Based Immunization and Screening (CBIS) method. For the determination of the epitopes, we have faced difficulty using conventional methods such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In this study, epitope mapping of the an anti-mCCR8 mAb was conducted by flow cytometry-based approaches.