Efficacy of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Combined with IFN-α in Chinese Resected Stage III Malignant Melanoma

NCAPG2 contributes to the progression of malignant melanoma through regulating proliferation and metastasis

Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive cutaneous neoplasm with increasing incidence worldwide. Non-SMC condensin II complex subunit G2 (NCAPG2) exerts import biological function in the pathogenesis of several tumors. In this study, the functional roles of NCAPG2 knockdown in malignant melanoma were revealed in in vitro and in vivo experiments. In vitro study demonstrated that NCAPG2 depletion could inhibit proliferation and migration and promote apoptosis of malignant melanoma cells. Our in vivo date further confirmed that NCAPG2 knockdown attenuated tumor growth of malignant melanoma. Interestingly, NCAPG2 drove tumor development of malignant melanoma through activating the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3). In conclusion, this study elaborated the tumor-promoting effects of NCAPG2 on malignant melanoma, and NCAPG2 may be a potential therapeutic target for malignant melanoma therapy.

Identification of macrophage correlated biomarkers to predict the prognosis in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Background

It has been shown that tumor-associated immune cells, particularly macrophages, play a fundamental role in the development and treatment response of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). However, little is known about macrophages at the single cellular level of ICC patients.

Methods

ScRNA-seq from Zhang et al. was used in the present study to identify the genes differentially expressed in ICCs. Furthermore, transcriptomic data from TCGA datasets, IHC and flowcytometry from our cohort were used to confirm the findings. Kaplan-Meier and TIDE scores were also used for prognostic analysis and ICB responses.

Results

A significant number of macrophages were found in ICCs as compared to adjacent tissues. We then extracted, processed, and classified the macrophages from the ICCs and adjacent tissues into 12 clusters. Significantly, the macrophages from the ICC exhibited an immunosuppressed state in terms of both signature gene expression and functional enrichment. Furthermore, our results indicate that, of the 10 selective tumor-promoting genes of macrophages, only MMP19 and SIRPα can predict ICB responses in ICCs. Although a higher expression of MMP19 and SIRPα predict a poor prognosis for ICCs without immunotherapy after surgery, patients with high SIRPα expression were more sensitive to immunotherapy, whereas those with high MMP19 expression were not sensitive to immunotherapy. To define the mechanisms, we found that SIRPα^hi ICCs exhibited an increased enrichment KEGG pathway of leukocyte transendothelial migration and neutrophil extracellular trap formation. The increased immune cell infiltration will increase sensitivity to immunotherapy.

Conclusion

Collectively, macrophages are critical to the immune status of ICCs, and MMP19 and SIRPα can predict prognosis and ICB responses for ICCs.

SIRPα and PD1 expression on tumor-associated macrophage predict prognosis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Background

The phagocytosis checkpoints of CD47/SIRPα, PD1/PDL1, CD24/SIGLEC10, and MHC/LILRB1 have shown inhibited phagocytosis of macrophages in distinct tumors. However, phagocytosis checkpoints and their therapeutic significance remain largely unknown in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) patients.

Methods

We analyzed sequencing data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and identified differently expressed genes between tumors and para‐tumors. Then, we investigated the expression of CD68, SIRPα, PD1, and SIGLEC10 by IHC in 81 ICC patients, and the clinical significance of these markers with different risk factors was also measured.

Results

Tumor infiltration immune cells analysis from the TCGA data revealed that macrophages significantly increased. Further analysis showed that M0 macrophages were significantly higher and M2 macrophages were significantly lower in ICC compared with paracancerous tissues, while there was no significant difference in M1 macrophages. We then examined some of M1 and M2 markers, and we found that M1 markers (iNOS, TNF, IL12A, and B) increased, while M2 markers (ARG1 and CD206) decreased in ICCs compared with paracancerous tissues. Furthermore, the expression of CD68, SIRPα, PD1, and SIGLEC10 increased significantly, but LILRB1 expression did not. We also examined the expression of CD68, SIRPα, PD1, and SIGLEC10 in 81 ICC patients by IHC, which revealed a similar expression pattern to that which emerged from the TCGA data. Upon analyzing the correlation between these markers and the progression of ICC patients, we found that the high expression of CD68, SIRPα, and PD1 are correlated with poor progression among ICC patients, while SIGLEC10 shows no correlation. More SIRPα⁺ or PD1⁺ TAMs were observed in the tumor tissues of ICC patients with HBV infections compared to non‐HBV‐infected patients. Multivariate analysis indicated that SIRPα and PD1 expression are independent indicators of ICC patient prognosis.

Conclusion

Hyperactivated CD47/SIRPα and PD1/PD‐L1 signals in CD68⁺ TAMs in tumor tissues are negative prognostic markers for ICCs after resection. Furthermore, anti-CD47 in combination with anti-PD1 or CD47/PD1 bispecific antibody (BsAb) may represent promising treatments for ICC. Further studies are also required in the future to confirmed our findings.

Retrospective Analysis of Adoptive TIL Therapy plus Anti-PD1 Therapy in Patients with Chemotherapy-Resistant Metastatic Osteosarcoma

Background

The pathological subtype of osteosarcoma is one of the most common malignant bone tumors. Notably, chemotherapy-resistant metastatic osteosarcoma has been reported to cause significant mortality and shows poor prognosis with the currently available multidisciplinary treatments. This study investigated whether combined adoptive TIL and anti-PD1 therapy improves the prognosis of patients with chemotherapy-resistant metastatic osteosarcoma.

Methods

A total of 60 patients with chemotherapy-resistant metastatic osteosarcoma between June 2016 and March 2018 were enrolled. The primary endpoint was to evaluate the safety and adverse effects (AEs) of infusions of TIL and anti-PD1 therapy in the patients. Besides, secondary endpoints included assessing the objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival time (PFS), and overall survival time (OS).

Results

We reported that combined TIL therapy and anti-PD1 therapy is safe and all treatment-related AEs were reversible or manageable. The ORR of all the patients is 36.67%, and patients with more infusions of TIL and CD8⁺TIL, less infusions of CD8⁺PD1⁺TIL, and less infusion of CD4⁺FoxP3⁺TIL exhibited increased PFS and OS.

Conclusion

This study determined that combined TIL and anti-PD1 therapy is safe and effective in metastatic osteosarcoma patients with chemotherapy resistance.

TILs and Anti-PD1 Therapy: An Alternative Combination Therapy for PDL1 Negative Metastatic Cervical Cancer

Background

We investigated the efficacy of TILs and anti-PD1 combination therapy in patients with metastatic cervical cancer with low MSI expression and PDL1-negative.

Methods

A total of 80 patients were put on TILs and anti-PD1 combination therapy, and the progression-free survival time (PFS) and overall survival time (OS) were assessed by Kaplan–Meier analysis. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors that could predict the prognosis of metastatic cervical cancer in the previously described patients.

Results

The objective response rate was 25%, whereas the mPFS and mOS were 6.1 and 11.3 months, respectively. The therapeutic efficacy was influenced by the characteristics of TILs, infection with HPV, and development of fever just after the therapy.

Conclusion

Overall, our results show that the combination therapy of TILs and anti-PD1 significantly improves the prognosis of metastatic cervical cancer.

Identification and Functional Analysis of EPOR+ Tumor-Associated Macrophages in Human Osteosarcoma Lung Metastasis

Background

Tissue-resident macrophages can be educated to tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) by the tumor microenvironment and many types of macrophages express erythropoietic receptor (EPOR); However, little is known about the expression of EPOR on TAMs and the identity of EPOR⁺ TAMs in osteosarcoma lung metastasis has thus far remained elusive.

Methods

EPOR-eGFPcre mice were used to determine the expression of EPOR on lung tissue-resident macrophages. Flow cytometry, RT-PCR, and Western blot were examined to define the identity of EPOR⁺ TAMs in 106 osteosarcoma lung metastasis specimens. Moreover, the clinicopathologic factors and prognosis of patients with CD163⁺EPOR⁺ macrophages were compared.

Results

We found that a subpopulation of mouse lung tissue-resident macrophages express EPOR and EPO enhances the proliferation of EPOR⁺ macrophages in mouse lung. A subpopulation of CD163⁺ macrophages expresses EPOR in human osteosarcoma lung metastasis specimens. CD163⁺EPOR⁺TAMs increase 2.5 times in human osteosarcoma lung metastasis tissues; CD206, CD163, and PD1, which are known to have a significant role in TAM function had high expression in CD163⁺EPOR⁺ TAMs compared with CD163⁺EPOR^- TAMs. Furthermore, CD163⁺EPOR⁺ TAMs had higher M2 marker and cytokine expression in osteosarcoma tissues compared with para-osteosarcoma tissues. EPO enhanced the expression of M2 cytokines in primary CD163⁺EPOR⁺ TAMs. Importantly, the percentage of CD163⁺EPOR⁺ TAMs had a positive linear association with malignant phenotypes as well as poor disease-free survival and overall survival time.

Conclusions

We have characterized TAMs expressing EPOR and CD163⁺EPOR⁺ macrophages as TAMs in osteosarcoma lung metastasis patients, which are highly associated with tumor aggressiveness.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes as a feasible adjuvant immunotherapy for osteosarcoma with a poor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Aim: To investigate the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy plus tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) therapy in osteosarcoma patients with a poor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Materials & methods: 40 patients received adjuvant chemotherapy (Group 1) and 40 patients received adjuvant chemotherapy plus TILs therapy (Group 2). Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed by Kaplan–Meier analysis. Results: The median DFS (mDFS; 65.3 months) and median OS (mOS; 95.8 months) in Group 2 were significantly prolonged compared with those in Group 1 (55.5 months for mDFS and 80.4 months for mOS). Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that a greater number of TILs transfused was an independent prognostic factor for both mDFS and mOS. Conclusion: Adjuvant chemotherapy plus TILs therapy may prolong survival of patients with a poor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

PD1+ tumor associated macrophages predict poor prognosis of locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Aim: Tumor associated macrophages are the most abundant cancer immune cells. However, little was known about the identity of CD68⁺PD1⁺ macrophages as well as the contributions in the prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods & methods: Immunofluorescence, flowcytometry and RT-PCR were used to analysis PD1⁺ macrophages in ESCC. Results: CD68⁺PD1⁺ macrophages which can express higher M2 markers in cancer tissues, increased about 4.2-times compared with para-cancer tissues. Additionally, PD1^high macrophages were significantly correlated with more malignant phenotypes and poor prognosis. PD1 treatment can enhance phagocytosis of cultured macrophages and redirect this macrophage to M1-like phenotype. Conclusion: Thus, our findings overall indicate that CD68⁺PD1⁺ macrophages are tumor associated macrophagess in ESCC, which can forecast the prognosis of ESCC.