The prognostic landscape of genes and infiltrating immune cells in cytokine induced killer cell treated-lung squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma

Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells, successes and challenges: report on the first international conference dedicated to the clinical translation of this unique adoptive cell immunotherapy

On August 30, 2023, experts from Germany and abroad met to discuss the successes and challenges of cytokine-induced killer cell (CIK) therapy, that recently celebrated its 30th anniversary providing treatment for cancer. This first virtual conference was hosted by CIO Bonn, a certified Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) funded by German Cancer Aid (DKH). In addition to keynote speakers involved in CIK cell clinical trials or optimized preclinical models to improve this adoptive cell immunotherapy, more than 100 attendees from around the world also participated in this event. Initiatives to establish the International Society of CIK Cells (ISCC) and a stronger CIK cell network guiding preclinical research and future clinical trials were also announced.

Revising the Landscape of Cytokine-Induced Killer Cell Therapy in Lung Cancer: Focus on Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Undeniably, immunotherapy has markedly improved the survival rate of cancer patients. The scenario is no different in lung cancer, where multiple treatment options are now available and the inclusion of immunotherapy yields better clinical benefits than previously used chemotherapeutic strategies. Of interest, cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cell immunotherapy has also taken a central role in clinical trials for the treatment of lung cancer. Herein, we describe the relative success of CIK cell therapy (alone and combined with dendritic cells as DC/CIKs) in lung cancer clinical trials and discuss its combination with known immune checkpoint inhibitors (anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1/PD-L1). Additionally, we provide insights into the findings of several preclinical in vitro/in vivo studies linked to lung cancer. In our opinion, CIK cell therapy, which recently completed 30 years and has been approved in many countries, including Germany, offers tremendous potential for lung cancer. Foremost, when it is optimized on a patient-by-patient basis with special attention to the patient-specific genomic signature.

Development of a ferroptosis-based model to predict prognosis, tumor microenvironment, and drug response for lung adenocarcinoma with weighted genes co-expression network analysis

Objective: The goal of this study was to create a risk model based on the ferroptosis gene set that affects lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients' prognosis and to investigate the potential underlying mechanisms. Material and Methods: A cohort of 482 LUAD patients from the TCGA database was used to develop the prognostic model. We picked the module genes from the ferroptosis gene set using weighted genes co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and univariate cox regression were used to screen the hub genes. Finally, the multivariate Cox analysis constructed a risk prediction score model. Three other cohorts of LUAD patients from the GEO database were included to validate the prediction ability of our model. Furthermore, the differentially expressed genes (DEG), immune infiltration, and drug sensitivity were analyzed. Results: An eight-gene-based prognostic model, including PIR, PEBP1, PPP1R13L, CA9, GLS2, DECR1, OTUB1, and YWHAE, was built. The patients from the TCGA database were classified into the high-RS and low-RS groups. The high-RS group was characterized by poor overall survival (OS) and less immune infiltration. Based on clinical traits, we separated the patients into various subgroups, and RS had remarkable prediction performance in each subgroup. The RS distribution analysis demonstrated that the RS was significantly associated with the stage of the LUAD patients. According to the study of immune cell infiltration in both groups, patients in the high-RS group had a lower abundance of immune cells, and less infiltration was associated with worse survival. Besides, we discovered that the high-RS group might not respond well to immune checkpoint inhibitors when we analyzed the gene expression of immune checkpoints. However, drug sensitivity analysis suggested that high-RS groups were more sensitive to common LUAD agents such as Afatinib, Erlotinib, Gefitinib, and Osimertinib. Conclusion: We constructed a novel and reliable ferroptosis-related model for LUAD patients, which was associated with prognosis, immune cell infiltration, and drug sensitivity, aiming to shed new light on the cancer biology and precision medicine.