Investigation of the prognostic value of CD4 T cell subsets expanded from tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes of colorectal cancer liver metastases

Role of T cells in liver metastasis

The liver is a major metastatic site (organ) for gastrointestinal cancers (such as colorectal, gastric, and pancreatic cancers) as well as non-gastrointestinal cancers (such as lung, breast, and melanoma cancers). Due to the innate anatomical position of the liver, the apoptosis of T cells in the liver, the unique metabolic regulation of hepatocytes and other potential mechanisms, the liver tends to form an immunosuppressive microenvironment and subsequently form a pre-metastatic niche (PMN), which can promote metastasis and colonization by various tumor cells(TCs). As a result, the critical role of immunoresponse in liver based metastasis has become increasingly appreciated. T cells, a centrally important member of adaptive immune response, play a significant role in liver based metastases and clarifying the different roles of the various T cells subsets is important to guide future clinical treatment. In this review, we first introduce the predisposing factors and related mechanisms of liver metastasis (LM) before introducing the PMN and its transition to LM. Finally, we detail the role of different subsets of T cells in LM and advances in the management of LM in order to identify potential therapeutic targets for patients with LM.

Key oncogenic signaling pathways affecting tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes infiltration in hepatocellular carcinoma: basic principles and recent advances

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks first among primary liver cancers, and its mortality rate exhibits a consistent annual increase. The treatment of HCC has witnessed a significant surge in recent years, with the emergence of targeted immune therapy as an adjunct to early surgical resection. Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) has shown promising results in other types of solid tumors. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the intricate interactions between different types of TILs and their impact on HCC, elucidate strategies for targeting neoantigens through TILs, and address the challenges encountered in TIL therapies along with potential solutions. Furthermore, this article specifically examines the impact of oncogenic signaling pathways activation within the HCC tumor microenvironment on the infiltration dynamics of TILs. Additionally, a concise overview is provided regarding TIL preparation techniques and an update on clinical trials investigating TIL-based immunotherapy in solid tumors.

Unveiling the immune symphony: decoding colorectal cancer metastasis through immune interactions

Colorectal cancer (CRC), known for its high metastatic potential, remains a leading cause of cancer-related death. This review emphasizes the critical role of immune responses in CRC metastasis, focusing on the interaction between immune cells and tumor microenvironment. We explore how immune cells, through cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors, contribute to the CRC metastasis cascade, underlining the tumor microenvironment's role in shaping immune responses. The review addresses CRC's immune evasion tactics, especially the upregulation of checkpoint inhibitors like PD-1 and CTLA-4, highlighting their potential as therapeutic targets. We also examine advanced immunotherapies, including checkpoint inhibitors and immune cell transplantation, to modify immune responses and enhance treatment outcomes in CRC metastasis. Overall, our analysis offers insights into the interplay between immune molecules and the tumor environment, crucial for developing new treatments to control CRC metastasis and improve patient prognosis, with a specific focus on overcoming immune evasion, a key aspect of this special issue.

Location matters: spatial dynamics of tumor-infiltrating T cell subsets is prognostic in colon cancer

Background

Colon cancer is a heterogeneous disease and consists of various molecular subtypes. Despite advances in high-throughput expression profiling, limitations remain in predicting clinical outcome and assigning specific treatment to individual cases. Tumor-immune interactions play a critical role, with tumors that activate the immune system having better outcome for the patient. The localization of T cells within tumor epithelium, to enable direct contact, is essential for antitumor function, but bulk DNA/RNA sequencing data lacks spatial distribution information. In this study, we provide spatial T cell tumor distribution and connect these data with previously determined genomic data in the AC-ICAM colon cancer patient cohort.

Methods

Colon cancer patients (n=90) with transcriptome data available were selected. We used a custom multiplex immunofluorescence assay on colon tumor tissue sections for quantifying T cell subsets spatial distribution in the tumor microenvironment, in terms of cell number, location, mutual distance, and distance to tumor cells. Statistical analyses included the previously determined Immunologic Constant of Rejection (ICR) transcriptome correlation and patient survival, revealing potential prognostic value in T cell spatial distribution.

Results

T cell phenotypes were characterized and CD3+CD8-FoxP3- T cells were found to be the predominant tumor-infiltrating subtype while CD3+FoxP3+ T cells and CD3+CD8+ T cells showed similar densities. Spatial distribution analysis elucidated that proliferative T cells, characterized by Ki67 expression, and Granzyme B-expressing T cells were predominantly located within the tumor epithelium. We demonstrated an increase in immune cell density and a decrease in the distance of CD3+CD8+ T cells to the nearest tumor cell, in the immune active, ICR High, immune subtypes. Higher densities of stromal CD3+FoxP3+ T cells showed enhanced survival outcomes, and patients exhibited superior clinical benefits when greater spatial distances were observed between CD3+CD8-FoxP3- or CD3+CD8+ T cells and CD3+FoxP3+ T cells.

Conclusion

Our study's in-depth analysis of the spatial distribution and densities of major T cell subtypes within the tumor microenvironment has provided valuable information that paves the way for further research into the intricate relationships between immune cells and colon cancer development.

Robust machine-learning based prognostic index using cytotoxic T lymphocyte evasion genes highlights potential therapeutic targets in colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND

A minute fraction of patients stands to derive substantial benefits from immunotherapy, primarily attributable to immune evasion. Our objective was to formulate a predictive signature rooted in genes associated with cytotoxic T lymphocyte evasion (CERGs), with the aim of predicting outcomes and discerning immunotherapeutic response in colorectal cancer (CRC).

METHODS

101 machine learning algorithm combinations were applied to calculate the CERGs prognostic index (CERPI) under the cross-validation framework, and patients with CRC were separated into high- and low-CERPI groups. Relationship between immune cell infiltration levels, immune-related scores, malignant phenotypes and CERPI were further analyzed. Various machine learning methods were used to identify key genes related to both patient survival and immunotherapy benefits. Expression of HOXC6, G0S2, and MX2 was evaluated and the effects of HOXC6 and G0S2 on the viability and migration of a CRC cell line were in-vitro verified.

RESULTS

The CERPI demonstrated robust prognostic efficacy in predicting the overall survival of CRC patients, establishing itself as an independent predictor of patient outcomes. The low-CERPI group exhibited elevated levels of immune cell infiltration and lower scores for tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion, indicative of a greater potential benefit from immunotherapy. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between CERPI levels and malignant tumor phenotypes, suggesting that heightened CERPI expression contributes to both the occurrence and progression of tumors. Thirteen key genes were identified, and their expression patterns were scrutinized through the analysis of single-cell datasets. Notably, HOXC6, G0S2, and MX2 exhibited upregulation in both CRC cell lines and tissues. Subsequent knockdown experiments targeting G0S2 and HOXC6 resulted in a significant suppression of CRC cell viability and migration.

CONCLUSION

We developed the CERPI for effectively predicting survival and response to immunotherapy in patients, and these results may provide guidance for CRC diagnosis and precise treatment.

Identifying primary tumor site of origin for liver metastases via a combination of handcrafted and deep learning features

Liver is one of the most common sites for metastases, which can occur on account of primary tumors from multiple sites of origin. Identifying the primary site of origin (PSO) of a metastasis can help in guiding therapeutic options for liver metastases. In this pilot study, we hypothesized that computer extracted handcrafted (HC) histomorphometric features can be utilized to identify the PSO of liver metastases. Cellular features, including tumor nuclei morphological and graph features as well as cytoplasm texture features, were extracted by computer algorithms from 175 slides (114 patients). The study comprised three experiments: (1) comparing and (2) fusing a machine learning (ML) model trained with HC pathomic features and deep learning (DL)-based classifiers to predict site of origin; (3) identifying the section of the primary tumor from which metastases were derived. For experiment 1, we divided the cohort into training sets composed of primary and matched liver metastases [60 patients, 121 whole slide images (WSIs)], and a hold-out validation set (54 patients, 54 WSIs) composed solely of liver metastases of known site of origin. Using the extracted HC features of the training set, a combination of supervised machine classifiers and unsupervised clustering was applied to identify the PSO. A random forest classifier achieved areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.83, 0.64, 0.82, and 0.64 in classifying the metastatic tumor from colon, esophagus, breast, and pancreas on the validation set. The top features related to nuclear and peri-nuclear shape and textural attributes. We also trained a DL network to serve as a direct comparison to our method. The DL model achieved AUCs for colon: 0.94, esophagus: 0.66, breast: 0.79, and pancreas: 0.67 in identifying PSO. A decision fusion-based strategy was deployed to fuse the trained ML and DL classifiers and achieved slightly better results than ML or DL classifier alone (colon: 0.93, esophagus: 0.68, breast: 0.81, and pancreas: 0.69). For the third experiment, WSI-level attention maps were also generated using a trained DL network to generate a composite feature similarity heat map between paired primaries and their associated metastases. Our experiments revealed that epithelium-rich and moderately differentiated tumor regions of primary tumors were quantitatively similar to paired metastatic tumors. Our findings suggest that a combination of HC and DL features could potentially help identify the PSO for liver metastases while at the same time also potentially identify the spatial sites of origin for the metastases within primary tumors.

High endothelial venules proportion in tertiary lymphoid structure is a prognostic marker and correlated with anti-tumor immune microenvironment in colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND

High endothelial venules (HEV) and tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) are associated with clinical outcomes of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). However, because HEV are components of TLS, there have been few studies of the role of the HEV proportion in TLS (HEV/TLS). This study investigated the role of the HEV/TLS and its relationship with the tumor immune microenvironment in CRC.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of 203 cases of tissue pathologically diagnosed as CRC after general surgery was performed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University from January 2014 to July 2017. Paraffin sections were obtained from the paracancerous intestinal mucosal tissues. The area of HEV and TLS and immune cells were detected by immunohistochemistry. We further divided the positive HEV expression group into the high HEV/TLS group and the low HEV/TLS group by the average area of HEV/TLS. After grouping, the data were also analyzed using the chi-square test, Kaplan-Meier method, and univariate and multivariate Cox proportional risk regression analyses. A correlation analysis of the HEV/TLS and immune cells as well as angiogenesis was performed.

RESULTS

Patients with a high HEV/TLS in CRC tissue were associated with longer OS, DFS and lower TNM stage. Meanwhile, CRC tissue with a high HEV/TLS showed a greater ability to recruit the CD3+ T cells, CD8+ T cells and M1 macrophages and correlated with less angiogenesis. Conclusively, high HEV/TLS links to the favorable prognosis of CRC patients and correlated with anti-tumor immune microenvironment, which can be a potential biomarker for prognosis of CRC patients.

CONCLUSION

A high HEV/TLS is associated with a favorable prognosis for CRC and is correlated with the anti-tumor immune microenvironment. Therefore, it is a potential biomarker of the CRC prognosis.KEY MESSAGESHigh HEV/TLS is associated with a favorable prognosis for CRC.High HEV/TLS correlated with the anti-tumor immune microenvironment of CRC and can serve as a novel prognostic biomarker.

Comprehensive analysis of clinical prognostic features and tumor microenvironment landscape of CD11b+CD64+ patients with acute myeloid leukemia

BACKGROUND

Immunophenotyping surface molecules detected in the clinic are mainly applied in diagnostic confirmation and subtyping. However, the immunomodulatory molecules CD11b and CD64, are highly associated with leukemogenesis. Hence, the prognostic value of them and their potential biological functions merit further investigation.

METHODS

Flow cytometry was operated to detect immunophenotypic molecules from AML bone marrow samples. Multivariate cox regression, Kaplan-Meier analyses, and nomogram were conducted to predict survival. Transcriptomic data, lymphocyte subsets, and immunohistochemical staining were incorporated to identify potential biological functions of prognostic immunophenotype in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

RESULTS

We classified 315 newly diagnosed AML patients of our center based on the expression of CD11b and CD64. The CD11b+CD64+ populations were identified as independent risk factors for overall survival and event-free survival of AML, exhibiting specific clinicopathological features. The predictive models based on CD11b+CD64+ showed high classification performance. In addition, the CD11b+CD64+ subset, characterized by high inhibitory immune checkpoints, M2-macrophage infiltration, low anti-tumor effector cells infiltration, as well as abnormal somatic mutation landscape, presented a distinctive tumor microenvironmental landscape. The CD11b+CD64+ population showd a higher expression of BCL2, and the drug sensitivity indicated that they presented a lower half-maximal inhibitory concentration value for BCL2 inhibitor, and could benefit more from the above medicine.

CONCLUSIONS

This work might be of benefit to enhanced understanding of CD11b+CD64+ in the prognosis and leukemogenesis, and yielded novel biomarkers to guide immunotherapy and targeted therapy for AML.

Overexpression of POLA2 in hepatocellular carcinoma is involved in immune infiltration and predicts a poor prognosis

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second malignancy worldwide. POLA2 initiates DNA replication, regulates cell cycle and gene repair that promote tumorigenesis and disease progression. However, the prognostic and biological function roles of POLA2 in HCC had not been conclusively determined.

METHODS

The expression levels and prognosis role of POLA1 and POLA2 in HCC were analyzed based on TCGA-LIHC database and recruited 24 HCC patients. Gene mutations were analyzed using "maftools" package. POLA2 and immune cells correlations were analyzed by TIMER. POLA2 co-expressed genes functional enrichment were evaluated using Metascape. The mRNA and protein level of POLA2 was detected in HCC cells and tissues. Cell migration, invasion, proliferation, cell cycle and HCC cell lines derived xenograft model were performed to investigate POLA2 biological function.

RESULTS

POLA2 was significantly high expressed in HCC than in normal liver tissue in both TCGA-LIHC and our collected HCC samples. In validation cohort, POLA2 significantly related to tumor differentiation, tumor size and Ki-67 (p < 0.05). In TCGA-LIHC cohort, overexpression of POLA2 predicted a low OS and associated with different clinical stages. Multivariate Cox regression showed overexpression of POLA2 effectively distinguished the prognosis at different T, N, M, stages and grades of HCC. POLA2 expression correlated with mutation burden, immune cells infiltration and immune-associated genes expression of HCC. Functional enrichment revealed that POLA2 co-expressed genes were linked to cellular activity, plasma membrane protein complex and leukocyte activity, immune response-regulated cell surface receptor signaling pathway, and immune response-regulated signaling pathway. Moreover, POLA2 was also positively co-expressed with some immune checkpoints (CD274, CTL-4, HAVCR2, PDCD1, PDCD1LG2, TIGIT, and LAG3) (p < 0.001). Gene knockdown revealed that POLA2 promoted proliferation, migration, invasion, and cell cycle of SMMC-7721 and HepG2. The HCC xenograft tumor model also demonstrated remarkably tumor size inhibition, tumor proliferation inhibtion and tumor necrosis promotion when POLA2 knockdown.

CONCLUSIONS

POLA2 influenced immune microenvironment and tumor progression of HCC indicated that it might be a potential molecular marker for prognostic evaluation or a therapeutic target for HCC.

Visceral adipose tissue secretome from early and late-stage oesophageal cancer patients differentially affects effector and regulatory T cells

AIM

Visceral obesity is a key risk factor in the development of oesophagogastric junctional adenocarcinoma (OGJ), predominantly via generation of systemic low grade inflammation. Obesity-induced inflammation promotes resistance to current standards of care, enhancing tumour cell growth and survival. This study investigates the effect of the visceral adipose tissue secretome from OGJ patients with early versus advanced tumours on T-cell immunity and the role of immune checkpoint blockade in enhancing anti-tumour immunity.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Visceral adipose conditioned media (ACM) from both early and late-stage OGJ patients significantly altered T cell activation status, upregulating co-stimulatory marker CD27 on T cells. ACM from both early and late-stage OGJ patients significantly altered immune checkpoint expression profiles downregulating immune checkpoints (ICs) on the surface of dual Th1/17-like and Th17-like cells and upregulating ICs on the surface of Th1-like cells and Treg cells. ACM derived from early-stage OGJ patients but not late-stage OGJ patients increased IFN-γ production by T cells. The addition of immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs) did not increase IFN-γ production by T cells in the presence of late-stage ACM, collectively highlighting the dichotomous immunostimulatory effect of early-stage ACM and immune-inhibitory effect of late-stage ACM. Interestingly, ACM from early-stage OGJ patients was more pro-inflammatory than ACM from late-stage patients, reflected by decreased levels of IL-17A/F, TNF-α, IL-1RA and IL-5.

CONCLUSION

The ACM-induced upregulation of ICs on T cells highlights a therapeutic vulnerability that could be exploited by ICBs to harness anti-cancer immunity and improve clinical outcomes for OGJ patients. Schematic workflow - (A) visceral adipose tissue was taken from OAC patients at time of surgery and cultured for 72 h in media. (B) The harvested ACM was co-cultured with healthy donor PBMCs that were concurrently activated with anti-CD3/28 for 48 h and T cell immunophenotyping was carried out by flow cytometry. Key findings - (A) Early and late stage ACM enhanced a Th1-like phenotype and upregulated CTLA-4 on Th1-like cells. A Th17-like phenotype was also enhanced in addition with a Treg-like phenotype. CTLA-4 and PD-L1 were upregulated on the surface of Treg-like cells. (B) ICB-attenuated IL-17 production by T cells. However, ACM attenuated ICB-mediated reduction in IL-10 production by T cells. Higher levels of pro-inflammatory factors were found in early stage ACM compared with late stage ACM.

Association between oxidative stress, mitochondrial function of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and gastrointestinal cancers

BACKGROUND

The incidence and mortality rate of gastrointestinal cancers are high worldwide. Increasing studies have illustrated that the occurrence, progression, metastasis and prognosis of cancers are intimately linked to the immune system. Mitochondria, as the main source of cellular energy, play an important role in maintaining the physiological function of immune cells. However, the relationship between mitochondrial function of immune cells and tumorigenesis has not yet been systematically investigated.

METHODS

A total of 150 cases, including 60 healthy donors and 90 primary gastrointestinal cancer patients without anti-tumor treatments (30 with gastric cancer, 30 with liver cancer and 30 with colorectal cancer) were involved in our study. The oxidant/antioxidant and cytokine levels in plasma, the ROS level, mitochondrial function and apoptosis ratio of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were evaluated.

RESULTS

The imbalance between oxidant and antioxidant in plasma was discovered in the primary gastrointestinal cancer patients. The levels of cell reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial ROS in PBMCs of primary gastrointestinal cancers were significantly increased compared with that in healthy donors. Meanwhile, the ATP content, the mtDNA copy number and the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in PBMCs of patients with primary gastrointestinal cancers were lower than those in control group. The decreased MMP also occurred in immune cells of gastrointestinal cancers, including T cell, B cell, NK cell and monocyte. Furthermore, the PBMCs apoptosis ratio of primary gastrointestinal cancer patients was significantly higher than that of control group. Importantly, an increase of IL-2 and IL-6 and a decrease of IgG in plasma were found in the patients with primary gastrointestinal cancers. These changes of mitochondrial function in immune cells were consistent among primary gastrointestinal cancers without anti-tumor treatments, such as liver cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer.

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrated that the imbalance of oxidation/antioxidation in primary gastrointestinal cancer patients without anti-tumor treatments results in excessive ROS. The oxidative stress was associated to the mitochondrial dysfunction, the apoptosis of immune cells and eventually the abnormal immune function in primary gastrointestinal cancers. The application of immune cell mitochondrial dysfunction into clinical evaluation is anticipated.

Type I and II interferon signaling in colorectal cancer liver metastasis

Metastatic colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Traditional chemotherapy extended the lifespan of cancer patients by only a few months, but targeted therapies and immunotherapy prolonged survival and led to long-term remissions in some cases. Type I and II interferons have direct pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative effects on cancer cells and stimulate anti-cancer immunity. As a result, interferon production by cells in the tumor microenvironment is in the spotlight of immunotherapies as it affects the responses of anti-cancer immune cells. However, promoting effects of interferons on colorectal cancer metastasis have also been reported. Here we summarize our knowledge about pro- and anti-metastatic effects of type I and II interferons in colorectal cancer liver metastasis and discuss possible therapeutic implications.

Extensive Phenotypic Characterization of T Cells Infiltrating Liver Metastasis from Colorectal Cancer: A Potential Role in Precision Medicine

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, with liver metastasis being its main cause of death. This study harvested fresh biological material from non-tumor and tumor tissue from 47 patients with CRC liver metastasis after surgery, followed by mechanical cellular extraction and stain-lyse-wash direct immunofluorescence technique. Here, 60 different T-cell populations were characterized by flow cytometry. Tumor samples were also subdivided according to their growth pattern into desmoplastic and non-desmoplastic. When we compared tumor versus non-tumor samples, we observed a significantly lower percentage of T-lymphocyte infiltration in the tumor in which the CD4⁺ T-cell density increased compared to the CD8⁺ T cells. T regulatory cells also increased within the tumor, even with an activated phenotype (HLA-DR⁺). A higher percentage of IL-17-producing cells was present in tumor samples and correlated with the metastasis size. In contrast, we also observed a significant increase in CD8⁺ follicular-like T cells (CD185⁺), suggesting a cytotoxic response to cancer cells. Additionally, most infiltrated T cells exhibit an intermediate activation phenotype (CD25⁺). In conclusion, our results revealed potential new targets and prognostic biomarkers that could take part in an algorithm for personalized medicine approaches improving CRC patients' outcomes.

HAMP as a Prognostic Biomarker for Colorectal Cancer Based on Tumor Microenvironment Analysis

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common digestive tumor in the world and has a high mortality rate. The development and treatment of CRC are related to the immune microenvironment, but immune response-related prognostic biomarkers are lacking. In this study, we used The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to explore the tumor microenvironment (TME) and weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) to identify significant prognostic genes. We also identified differentially expressed genes in the TCGA data and explored immune-related genes and transcription factors (TFs). Then, we built a TF regulatory network and performed a comprehensive prognostic analysis of an lncRNA-associated competitive endogenous RNA network (ceRNA network) to build a prognostic model. CCR8 and HAMP were identified both in the WGCNA key module and as immune-related genes. HAMP had good prognostic value for CRC and was highly expressed in CRC tissues and had a negative correlation with CD4⁺ T cells and M0 macrophages based on immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence staining of clinical specimens.We found that HAMP had high prognostic and therapeutic target value for CRC and was associated with liver metastasis. These analysis results revealed that HAMP may be a candidate immune-related prognostic biomarker for CRC.

Store-Operated Ca2+ Entry Is Up-Regulated in Tumour-Infiltrating Lymphocytes from Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients

Simple Summary

Store-operated Ca²⁺ entry (SOCE) has long been known to regulate the differentiation and effector functions of T cells as well as to be instrumental to the ability of cytotoxic T lymphocytes to target cancer cells. Currently, no information is available regarding the expression and function of SOCE in tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) that have been expanded in vitro for adoptive cell therapy (ACT). This study provides the first evidence that SOCE is up-regulated in ex vivo-expanded TILs from metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients. The up-regulation of SOCE mainly depends on diacylglycerol kinase (DGK), which prevents the protein kinase C-dependent inhibition of Ca²⁺ entry in normal T cells. Of note, the pharmacological blockade of SOCE with the selective inhibitor, BTP-2, during target cell killing significantly increases cytotoxic activity at low TIL density, i.e., when TILs-mediated cancer cell death is rarer. This study, albeit preliminary, could lay the foundation to propose an alternative strategy to effect ACT. It has been shown that ex vivo-expanded TILs did not improve the disease-free survival rate in mCRC patients. Our results strongly suggest that pre-treating autologous TILs with a SOCE or DGK inhibitor before being infused into the patient could improve their cytotoxic activity against cancer cells.

Abstract

(1) Background: Store-operated Ca²⁺ entry (SOCE) drives the cytotoxic activity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) against cancer cells. However, SOCE can be enhanced in cancer cells due to an increase in the expression and/or function of its underlying molecular components, i.e., STIM1 and Orai1. Herein, we evaluated the SOCE expression and function in tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients. (2) Methods: Functional studies were conducted in TILs expanded ex vivo from CRC liver metastases. Peripheral blood T cells from healthy donors (hPBTs) and mCRC patients (cPBTs) were used as controls. (3) Results: SOCE amplitude is enhanced in TILs compared to hPBTs and cPBTs, but the STIM1 protein is only up-regulated in TILs. Pharmacological manipulation showed that the increase in SOCE mainly depends on tonic modulation by diacylglycerol kinase, which prevents the protein kinase C-dependent inhibition of SOCE activity. The larger SOCE caused a stronger Ca²⁺ response to T-cell receptor stimulation by autologous mCRC cells. Reducing Ca²⁺ influx with BTP-2 during target cell killing significantly increases cytotoxic activity at low target:effector ratios. (4) Conclusions: SOCE is enhanced in ex vivo-expanded TILs deriving from mCRC patients but decreasing Ca²⁺ influx with BTP-2 increases cytotoxic activity at a low TIL density.

Novel acetylation-related gene signatures for predicting the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer

Histone acetylation may affect the tumorigenesis and prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, there is still a lack of studies exploring the effect of acetylation-related genes on the prognosis of CRC. To explore the role of acetylation-related genes in CRC prognosis using bioinformatics strategies, the expression data and survival information of CRC patients were collected from the Gene Expression Omnibus. The Molecular Signatures Database was used to select acetylation-related genes. Univariate and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression analyses were used to screen prognostic genes. Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted for survival analysis. Cibersort and pRRophetics were used to analyze immune infiltration and predict drug sensitivity, respectively. By implementing independent prognostic factors, a nomogram model was constructed. The result showed that a total of 48 prognostic genes which screened from the acetylation-related gene set were mainly enriched in ABC transporters and acetylation/deacetylation-related pathways. Three gene signatures (SDR16C5, MEAF6, and SOX4) were further defined, and a prognostic model was constructed that showed high sensitivity and specificity for predicting CRC prognosis in both training and validation cohorts. Patients with different prognostic risks also presented differential expression of gene signatures, infiltration of activated CD4 memory T cells, and drug sensitivity to bicalutamide, gefitinib, Lenalidomide, and imatinib. The nomogram suggested the potential of a risk score-based model in predicting 1- and 2-year survival in patients with CRC. In conclusion, we proposed three gene signatures from an acetylation-related gene set as potential targets for epigenetic therapy and constructed a prognostic model for CRC.

The Colorectal Cancer Tumor Microenvironment and Its Impact on Liver and Lung Metastasis

Simple Summary

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer worldwide. Metastasis to secondary organs, such as the liver and lungs, is a key driver of CRC-related mortality. The tumor microenvironment, which consists of the primary cancer cells, as well as associated support and immune cells, significantly affects the behavior of CRC cells at the primary tumor site, as well as in metastatic lesions. In this paper, we review the role of the individual components of the tumor microenvironment on tumor progression, immune evasion, and metastasis, and we discuss the implications of these components on antitumor therapies.

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy and the second most common cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. A total of 20% of CRC patients present with distant metastases, most frequently to the liver and lung. In the primary tumor, as well as at each metastatic site, the cellular components of the tumor microenvironment (TME) contribute to tumor engraftment and metastasis. These include immune cells (macrophages, neutrophils, T lymphocytes, and dendritic cells) and stromal cells (cancer-associated fibroblasts and endothelial cells). In this review, we highlight how the TME influences tumor progression and invasion at the primary site and its function in fostering metastatic niches in the liver and lungs. We also discuss emerging clinical strategies to target the CRC TME.

A cellular census of human peripheral immune cells identifies novel cell states in lung diseases

Increasing evidence supports a central role of the immune system in lung diseases. Understanding how immunological alterations between lung diseases provide opportunities for immunotherapy. Exhausted T cells play a key role of immune suppression in lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was proved in our previous study. The present study aims to furthermore define molecular landscapes and heterogeneity of systemic immune cell target proteomic and transcriptomic profiles and interactions between circulating immune cells and lung residential cells in various lung diseases. We firstly measured target proteomic profiles of circulating immune cells from healthy volunteers and patients with stable pneumonia, stable asthma, acute asthma, acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer, using single-cell analysis by cytometry by time-of-flight with 42 antibodies. The nine immune cells landscape was mapped among those respiratory system diseases, including CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, dendritic cells, B cells, eosinophil, γδT cells, monocytes, neutrophil and natural killer cells. The double-negative T cells and exhausted CD4+ central memory T cells subset were identified in patients with acute pneumonia. This T subset expressed higher levels of T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing protein 3 (Tim3) and T-cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains (TIGIT) in patients with acute pneumonia and stable pneumonia. Biological processes and pathways of immune cells including immune response activation, regulation of cell cycle and pathways in cancer in peripheral blood immune cells were defined by bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). The heterogeneity among immune cells including CD4+ , CD8+ T cells and NK T cells by single immune cell RNA-seq with significant difference was found by single-cell sequencing. The effect of interstitial telocytes on the immune cell types and immune function was finally studied and the expressions of CD8a and chemokine C-C motif receptor 7 (CCR7) were increased significantly in co-cultured groups. Our data indicate that proteomic and transcriptomic profiles and heterogeneity of circulating immune cells provides new insights for understanding new molecular mechanisms of immune cell function, interaction and modulation as a source to identify and develop biomarkers and targets for lung diseases.

Blood Vessels and Peripheral Nerves as Key Players in Cancer Progression and Therapy Resistance

Simple Summary

The interactions between cancer cells and the surrounding blood vessels and peripheral nerves are critical in all the phases of tumor development. Accordingly, therapies that specifically target vessels and nerves represent promising anticancer approaches. The first aim of this review is to document the importance of blood vessels and peripheral nerves in both cancer onset and local or distant growth of tumoral cells. We then focus on the state-of-the-art therapies that limit cancer progression through the impairment of blood vessels and peripheral nerves. The mentioned literature is helpful for the scientific community to appreciate the recent advances in these two fundamental components of tumors.

Abstract

Cancer cells continuously interact with the tumor microenvironment (TME), a heterogeneous milieu that surrounds the tumor mass and impinges on its phenotype. Among the components of the TME, blood vessels and peripheral nerves have been extensively studied in recent years for their prominent role in tumor development from tumor initiation. Cancer cells were shown to actively promote their own vascularization and innervation through the processes of angiogenesis and axonogenesis. Indeed, sprouting vessels and axons deliver several factors needed by cancer cells to survive and proliferate, including nutrients, oxygen, and growth signals, to the expanding tumor mass. Nerves and vessels are also fundamental for the process of metastatic spreading, as they provide both the pro-metastatic signals to the tumor and the scaffold through which cancer cells can reach distant organs. Not surprisingly, continuously growing attention is devoted to the development of therapies specifically targeting these structures, with promising initial results. In this review, we summarize the latest evidence that supports the importance of blood vessels and peripheral nerves in cancer pathogenesis, therapy resistance, and innovative treatments.