Expansion of CD8 cytotoxic Tlymphocytes is a prerequisite for anti-cancer immune activity and has gained interest in the era of immune checkpoint therapy.
To understand the CD8 T cell dynamics in the tumor microenvironment, we used multiplex fluorescence immunohistochemistry to quantitate CD8 proliferation (Ki67 co-expression) in tissue microarrays from 1107 colorectal, 642 renal cell, 1066 breast, 375 ovarian, 451 pancreatic and 347 gastric cancer samples.
The density and the percentage of proliferating (Ki67) CD8 T cells were both highly variable between tumor types as well as between patients with the same tumor type. Elevated density and percentage of proliferating CD8 cytotoxic T cells were significantly associated with favorable tumor parameters such as low tumor stage, negative nodal stage (p ≤ 0.0041 each), prolonged overall survival (p ≤ 0.0028 each) and an inflamed immune phenotype (p = 0.0025) in colorectal cancer and, in contrast, linked to high tumor stage, advanced ISUP/Fuhrman/Thoenes grading (each p ≤ 0.003), shorter overall survival (p ≤ 0.0330 each) and an immune inflamed phenotype (p = 0.0094) in renal cell cancer. In breast, ovarian, pancreatic and gastric cancer the role of (Ki67)CD8 Tcells was not linked to clinicopathological data.
Our data demonstrate a tumor type dependent prognostic impact of proliferating (Ki67)CD8 Tcells and an inverse impact in colorectal and renal cell cancer.
About The Expert
Niclas C Blessin
Wenchao Li
Tim Mandelkow
Hannah L Jansen
Cheng Yang
Jonas B Raedler
Ronald Simon
Franziska Büscheck
David Dum
Andreas M Luebke
Andrea Hinsch
Katharina Möller
Anne Menz
Christian Bernreuther
Patrick Lebok
Till Clauditz
Guido Sauter
Andreas Marx
Ria Uhlig
Waldemar Wilczak
Sarah Minner
Till Krech
Christoph Fraune
Doris Höflmayer
Eike Burandt
Stefan Steurer
References
PubMed