scholarly journals CD8+CD57+ T cells exhibit distinct features in human non-small cell lung cancer

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. e000639
Author(s):  
Bing Huang ◽  
Rong Liu ◽  
Peiliang Wang ◽  
Zhiwei Yuan ◽  
Jianjian Yang ◽  
...  

BackgroundThe repetitive antigen stimulation during chronic infection often leads to the accumulation of CD8+CD57+ T cells. These cells express high levels of interferon-γ, granzyme B and perforin with elevated cytolytic effect, and are considered as the most potent cells for combating chronical viral infection. The status of CD8+CD57+ T cells in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been well defined.MethodsWe used flow cytometry and undertook a systemic approach to examine the frequency, immunophenotyping and functional properties of CD8+CD57+ T cells in the peripheral blood, tumor tissue and the corresponding normal tissue, as well as lung draining lymph nodes, of patients with NSCLC.ResultsCD57+ T cells expressed high levels of programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) in all tested compartments and were predominantly CD8+ T cells. These cells in the peripheral blood displayed a terminally differentiated phenotype as defined by loss of CD27 and CD28 while expressing KLRG1. CD8+CD57+ T cells exhibited enhanced cytotoxic potencies and impaired proliferative capability. Unlike CD57+ T cells in the peripheral blood, a significant proportion of CD57+ T cells in the primary tumors expressed CD27 and CD28. CD8+CD57+ T cells in tumors lacked cytotoxic activity. The proliferative activity of these cells was also impaired. CD8+CD57+ T cells in the corresponding normal lung tissues shared similarities with their counterparts in peripheral blood rather than their counterparts in tumors. The vast majority of CD8+CD57+ T cells in lung draining lymph nodes were positive for CD27 and CD28. These cells were unable to produce perforin and granzyme B, but their proliferative activity was preserved. CD8+CD57+ T cells in tumors displayed an inferior response to PD-1 blockade compared with their CD8+CD57- counterparts. Interleukin (IL)-15 preferentially restored the effector function of these cells. Additionally, IL-15 was able to restore the impaired proliferative activity of CD8+CD57+ T cells in tumors and peripheral blood.ConclusionsOur data indicate that the failure of the immune system to fight cancer progression could be a result of impaired CD8+ T-cell functional maturation into fully differentiated effector T cells within the tumor microenvironment. Boosting IL-15 activity might promote tumor-reactive CD8+ T-cell functional maturation while preserving their proliferative activity.

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e001302
Author(s):  
Suchita Pakkala ◽  
Kristin Higgins ◽  
Zhengjia Chen ◽  
Gabriel Sica ◽  
Conor Steuer ◽  
...  

BackgroundImmune checkpoint blockade (ICB) targeting programmed cell death protein 1 and cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein 4 has achieved modest clinical activity as salvage therapy in relapsed small cell lung cancer (SCLC). We conducted this signal-finding study to assess the efficacy of ICB with or without radiation in relapsed SCLC.MethodsPatients with relapsed SCLC and ≤2 previous lines of therapy were randomized to (1) arm A: durvalumab (D) 1500 mg/tremelimumab (T) 75 mg (intravenously every 4 weeks without stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT)) or (2) arm B: immune-sensitizing SBRT to one selected tumor site (9 Gy × 3 fractions) followed by D/T. Treatment continued until progression or a maximum of 12 months. The co-primary endpoints of the study were overall response rate (ORR) and progression-free survival (PFS). We evaluated circulating lymphocyte repertoire in serial peripheral blood samples and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from on-treatment biopsies as pharmacodynamic markers.ResultsEighteen patients were randomized to arms A and B (n=9 each): median age 70 years; 41.2% women. The median PFS and ORR were 2.1 months and 0% in arm A and 3.3 months and 28.6% in arm B. The median overall survival (OS) was 2.8 months in arm A and 5.7 months in arm B (p=0.3772). Pooled efficacy of D/T±SBRT in 15 Response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) evaluable patients across both arms showed the best ORR in terms of partial response in 13.3%, stable disease in 26.6% and progressive disease in 60.0%; the overall median PFS and OS were 2.76 and 3.9 months. The most common adverse events were grade 1 fatigue (66%) and grade 1 elevated amylase (56%) in arm A, and grade 1 fatigue (56%) and pain (44%) in arm B. There was a significant increase in activated CD8(+)ICOS+ T cells (p=0.048) and a reduction in naïve T cells (p=0.0454) in peripheral blood following treatment, along with a significant amount of activated CD8+ICOS+ T cells in TILs from responders.ConclusionsThe D/T combination with and without SBRT was safe but did not show sufficient efficacy signal in relapsed SCLC. Changes in peripheral blood lymphocyte and TILs were consistent with an immunologic response.Trial registration numberNCT02701400.


Oncotarget ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (35) ◽  
pp. 56233-56240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Zheng ◽  
Xin Liu ◽  
Jianhong Zhang ◽  
Shawn J. Rice ◽  
Matthias Wagman ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 2407-2419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Min Wang ◽  
Xiao-Hong Zhang ◽  
Ming-Ming Feng ◽  
Yan-Jun Qiao ◽  
Li-Qun Ye ◽  
...  

Background/Aims: Interleukin (IL)-35 has immunosuppressive functions in autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, and certain cancers. However, few studies have focused on its immunoregulatory activity in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Thus, we investigated the role of IL-35 in the pathogenesis of this disease. Methods: A total of 66 NSCLC patients and 21 healthy individuals were enrolled. IL-35 expression in peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was measured. The modulatory functions of IL-35 on purified CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from NSCLC patients were investigated in direct and indirect coculture systems with NSCLC cell lines. Results: IL-35 expression was significantly increased in BALF from the tumor site, but not in the peripheral blood of NSCLC patients. IL-35 did not affect the bioactivity including proliferation, cytokine production, cell cycle, and cellular invasion of NSCLC cells. It suppressed responses from type 1 T helper (Th1) and Th17 cells but elevated the regulatory T cell response in cultured CD4+ T cells from NSCLC patients, and reduced cytokine-mediated CD4+ T cells cytotoxicity to NSCLC cells. Moreover, IL-35 also inhibited cytotoxic gene expression in CD8+ T cells from NSCLC, reducing their cytolytic and noncytolytic functions. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that IL-35 contributes to the dysfunction/exhaustion of T cells and limited antitumor immune responses in NSCLC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning An ◽  
Haoyi Wang ◽  
Wenxiao Jia ◽  
Wang Jing ◽  
Chao Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Immunosuppression caused by tumorigenesis may promote tumor progress and invasion. Here, we investigated whether the characteristics of circulating T lymphocyte subtypes in patients with extensive small cell lung cancer (ED-SCLC) can be used as an alternative marker of tumor progression. Methods This study included 36 newly diagnosed ED-SCLC patients before treatment and the patients were followed up. 22 age and sex-matched healthy volunteers were selected as control. The percentages and proliferation potential of T lymphocyte subpopulations from peripheral blood were measured. Results CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) were elevated in ED-SCLC patients compared with healthy controls (p = 0.0083). In contrast, the percentages of CD3+ and CD3+CD4+ T cells were significantly lower in SCLC patients (p < 0.001; p = 0.0014). The proliferation (%divided) of CD8+ T cells of SCLC patients was suppressed compared with healthy controls (p = 0.0058), but not of CD4+ T cells (p = 0.1611). Multivariate analyses showed that the %divided of CD8+ T cells is an independent predictor for PFS (HR: 4.342, 95% CI 1.324–14.245; p = 0.015). The percentages of peripheral Tregs and the degree of chemotherapy or radiotherapy induced lymphopenia negatively correlated with the proliferation of CD8+ T cells (p = 0.0225, r = − 0.379; p = 0.0003, r = − 0.464). Conclusion The present study indicates that SCLC patients have impaired immunity in peripheral blood, and the proliferation potential of circulating CD8+ T cells is a significant predicator for PFS.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiubao Ren ◽  
Zhenzhen Hui ◽  
Jiali Zhang ◽  
Yulin Ren ◽  
XIAOLING LI ◽  
...  

Abstract The combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) with chemotherapy (chemoimmunotherapy) in the neoadjuvant setting have achieved favorable clinical benefits in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but the mechanism of clinical responses remain unclear. To identify factors associated with the clinical outcome, we provide a rich resource of 186,477 individual immune cells from matched multiple immune-relevant tissue sites and peripheral blood of four treatment-naïve and eight neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy treated ⅢA NSCLC patients (responders versus non-responders) by single-cell RNA-seq and TCR-seq. We showed that the synergistic increase of B cells and CD4+ T cells are associated with positive therapeutic response of neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy. B cell IgG subclasses IgG1 and IgG3 play a critical role in anti-tumor immune response in tumor lesion, and this process was driven by increased IL-21 protein secreted by infiltrated T follicular helper (Tfh) cells after neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy. Furthermore, we uncovered several critical events for positive clinical outcome, including the diminished activated TNFRSF4+ regulatory T cells (Tregs), increased LAMP3+ dendritic cells (DCs), high pre-therapy peripheral blood T-cell diversity, and the expansion of intratumoral CD4+ T clones and peripheral CD8+ T clones. In total, our comprehensive study of the single-cell profile of immune cells provide mechanistic insight of clinical responses and identified novel predictive factors and potential therapeutic targets for improving the efficiency of neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy in NSCLC.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3828
Author(s):  
Anello Marcello Poma ◽  
Rossella Bruno ◽  
Iacopo Pietrini ◽  
Greta Alì ◽  
Giulia Pasquini ◽  
...  

Pembrolizumab has been approved as first-line treatment for advanced Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with tumors expressing PD-L1 and in the absence of other targetable alterations. However, not all patients that meet these criteria have a durable benefit. In this monocentric study, we aimed at refining the selection of patients based on the expression of immune genes. Forty-six consecutive advanced NSCLC patients treated with pembrolizumab in first-line setting were enrolled. The expression levels of 770 genes involved in the regulation of the immune system was analysed by the nanoString system. PD-L1 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Patients with durable clinical benefit had a greater infiltration of cytotoxic cells, exhausted CD8, B-cells, CD45, T-cells, CD8 T-cells and NK cells. Immune cell scores such as CD8 T-cell and NK cell were good predictors of durable response with an AUC of 0.82. Among the immune cell markers, XCL1/2 showed the better performance in predicting durable benefit to pembrolizumab, with an AUC of 0.85. Additionally, CD8A, CD8B and EOMES showed a high specificity (>0.86) in identifying patients with a good response to treatment. In the same series, PD-L1 expression levels had an AUC of 0.61. The characterization of tumor microenvironment, even with the use of single markers, can improve patients’ selection for pembrolizumab treatment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. A303-A303
Author(s):  
George Blumenschein ◽  
Siddhartha Devarakonda ◽  
Melissa Johnson ◽  
Victor Moreno ◽  
Justin Gainor ◽  
...  

BackgroundADP-A2M10 SPEAR T-cells are genetically engineered autologous T-cells that express a high affinity MAGE-A10-specific T-cell receptor targeting MAGE-A10+tumors in the context of HLA-A*02. This trial is now complete (NCT02592577).MethodsThis first-in-human dose escalation trial utilized a modified 3+3 design to evaluate safety and antitumor activity. Eligible patients (pts) were HLA-A*02+ with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) expressing MAGE-A10. Pts underwent apheresis; T-cells were isolated, transduced with a lentiviral vector containing the TCR targeting MAGE-A10, and expanded. Pts underwent lymphodepletion (LD) with varying doses/schedules of fludarabine (Flu) and cyclophosphamide (Cy) prior to receiving ADP-A2M10. ADP-A2M10 was administered at Dose Level (DL) 1= 0.1×109, DL2 0.5–1.2×109, and DL3/Expansion= 1.2–15×109 transduced cells.ResultsAs of Jan 10, 2020, 11 pts (6 male/5 female) with NSCLC (3 squamous cell, 7 adenocarcinoma, 1 adenosquamous) were treated. Five, 3 and 3 pts received cells at DL1, DL2, and DL3/Expansion, respectively. The most frequently reported adverse events ≥ Grade 3 were lymphopenia (11), leukopenia (9), neutropenia (8), anemia (6), thrombocytopenia (5), and hyponatremia (5). Three pts reported CRS (Grades 1, 2, and 4, respectively). One pt received the highest dose of LD (Flu 30 mg/m2 Day 1 4 and Cy 1800 mg/m2 Day 1–2) prior to a second infusion and had a partial response (PR). This pt subsequently developed aplastic anemia and died. Responses included: 1 pt – PR, 3 pts - stable disease, 2 pts – progressive disease, 1 pt - too early to determine, 4 pts - off-study prior to tumor assessment. SPEAR T-cells were detectable in peripheral blood from pts at each dose level, and in tumor tissue from pts at DL1 and DL3.ConclusionsADP-A2M10 SPEAR T-cells have shown acceptable safety and no evidence of toxicity related to off-target binding or alloreactivity. Given the minimal antitumor activity and the discovery that MAGE-A10 expression frequently overlaps with MAGE-A4 expression, the clinical program has closed. Several trials with SPEAR T-cells targeting MAGE-A4 are ongoing (https://bit.ly/35htsZK).Trial RegistrationNCT02592577Ethics ApprovalThe trial was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and the International Conference on Harmonization Good Clinical Practice guidelines and was approved by local authorities. An independent ethics committee or institutional review board approved the clinical protocol at each participating center. All the patients provided written informed consent before study entry.


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