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Jin X, Zhou K, Zhang R, Li J, Guo M, Qiao H, Wu M, Cao X, Dong G, Zhang S. Construction and validation of prognostic signature for transcription factors regulating T cell exhaustion in hepatocellular carcinoma. Medicine (Baltimore) 2024; 103:e38713. [PMID: 38968464 PMCID: PMC11224837 DOI: 10.1097/md.0000000000038713] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 07/07/2024] Open
Abstract
In the tumor microenvironment (TME), CD8+ T cells showed stage exhaustion due to the continuous stimulation of tumor antigens. To evaluate the status of CD8+ T cells and reverse the exhaustion is the key to evaluate the prognosis and therapeutic effect of tumor patients. The aim of this study was to establish a prognostic signature that could effectively predict prognosis and response to immunotherapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We used univariate Cox analysis to obtain transcription factors associated with CD8+ T cell exhaustion from The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset. Then, the prognostic signature for transcription factors basic leucine zipper ATF-like transcription factor, Eomesodermin, and T-box protein 21 regulating T cell exhaustion was constructed using LASSO Cox regression. The relative expression levels of the mRNA of the 3 transcription factors were detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 23 pairs of HCC and paracancer tissues, and verified internally in The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset and externally in the International Cancer Genome Consortium dataset. Cox regression analysis showed that risk score was an independent prognostic variable. The overall survival of the high-risk group was significantly lower than that of the low-risk group. The low-risk group had higher immune scores, matrix scores, and ESTIMATE scores, and significantly increased expression levels of most immune checkpoint genes in the low-risk group. Therefore, patients with lower risk scores benefit more from immunotherapy. The combination of the 3 transcription factors can evaluate the exhaustion state of CD8+ T cells in the TME, laying a foundation for evaluating the TME and immunotherapy efficacy in patients with HCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xi Jin
- Scientific Research Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
| | - Kun Zhou
- Scientific Research Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Beidahuang Industry Group General Hospital, Harbin, China
| | - Rongzheng Zhang
- Scientific Research Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
| | - Jingbo Li
- Department of Anesthesiology Research Institute, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
| | - Mengrui Guo
- Scientific Research Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
| | - Han Qiao
- Scientific Research Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
| | - Meng Wu
- Scientific Research Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
| | - Xinyang Cao
- Scientific Research Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
| | - Guanglu Dong
- Department of Tumor Radiotherapy, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
| | - Shuyun Zhang
- Scientific Research Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
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Zhu Y, Tan H, Wang J, Zhuang H, Zhao H, Lu X. Molecular insight into T cell exhaustion in hepatocellular carcinoma. Pharmacol Res 2024; 203:107161. [PMID: 38554789 DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2024.107161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Revised: 03/17/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality globally. The emergence of immunotherapy has been shown to be a promising therapeutic approach for hepatocellular carcinoma in recent years. It has been well known that T cell plays a key role in current immunotherapy. However, sustained exposure to antigenic stimulation within the tumor microenvironment may lead to T cell exhaustion, which may cause treatment ineffectiveness. Therefore, reversing T cell exhaustion has been an important issue for the clinical application of immunotherapy, and a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies surrounding T cell exhaustion and its underlying mechanisms is imperative for devising strategies to overcome the T cell exhaustion during treatment. In this review, we summarized the reported drivers of T cell exhaustion in hepatocellular carcinoma and delineate potential ways to reverse it. Additionally, we discussed the interplay among metabolic plasticity, epigenetic regulation, and transcriptional factors in exhausted T cells in hepatocellular carcinoma, and their implication for future clinical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yonghua Zhu
- Department of General Surgery, Liver Transplantation Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Huabing Tan
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Hepatology Institute, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei 442000, China; Shiyan Key Laboratory of Virology, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei Province 442000, China
| | - Jincheng Wang
- Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Hokkaido University, Japan
| | - Haiwen Zhuang
- Department of General Surgery, Liver Transplantation Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Huanbin Zhao
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
| | - Xiaojie Lu
- Department of General Surgery, Liver Transplantation Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
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Liang T, Wang X, Liu Y, Ai H, Wang Q, Wang X, Wei X, Song Y, Yin Q. Decreased TCF1 and BCL11B expression predicts poor prognosis for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Front Immunol 2022; 13:985280. [PMID: 36211334 PMCID: PMC9539190 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.985280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
T cell immune dysfunction is a prominent characteristic of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and the main cause of failure for immunotherapy and multi-drug resistance. There remains a lack of specific biomarkers for evaluating T cell immune status with outcome for CLL patients. T cell factor 1 (TCF1, encoded by the TCF7 gene) can be used as a critical determinant of successful anti-tumor immunotherapy and a prognostic indicator in some solid tumors; however, the effects of TCF1 in CLL remain unclear. Here, we first analyzed the biological processes and functions of TCF1 and co-expressing genes using the GEO and STRING databases with the online tools Venny, Circos, and Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID). Then the expression and prognostic values of TCF1 and its partner gene B cell leukemia/lymphoma 11B (BCL11B) were explored for 505 CLL patients from 6 datasets and validated with 50 CLL patients from Henan cancer hospital (HNCH). TCF1 was downregulated in CLL patients, particularly in CD8+ T cells, which was significantly correlated with poor time-to-first treatment (TTFT) and overall survival (OS) as well as short restricted mean survival time (RMST). Function and pathway enrichment analysis revealed that TCF1 was positively correlated with BCL11B, which is involved in regulating the activation and differentiation of T cells in CLL patients. Intriguingly, BCL11B was highly consistent with TCF1 in its decreased expression and prediction of poor prognosis. More importantly, the combination of TCF1 and BCL11B could more accurately assess prognosis than either alone. Additionally, decreased TCF1 and BCL11B expression serves as an independent risk factor for rapid disease progression, coinciding with high-risk indicators, including unmutated IGHV, TP53 alteration, and advanced disease. Altogether, this study demonstrates that decreased TCF1 and BCL11B expression is significantly correlated with poor prognosis, which may be due to decreased TCF1+CD8+ T cells, impairing the effector CD8+ T cell differentiation regulated by TCF1/BCL11B.
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Song J, Hu L, Liu B, Jiang N, Huang H, Luo J, Wang L, Zeng J, Huang F, Huang M, Cai L, Tang L, Chen S, Chen Y, Wu A, Zheng S, Chen Q. The Emerging Role of Immune Cells and Targeted Therapeutic Strategies in Diabetic Wounds Healing. J Inflamm Res 2022; 15:4119-4138. [PMID: 35898820 PMCID: PMC9309318 DOI: 10.2147/jir.s371939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Poor wound healing in individuals with diabetes has long plagued clinicians, and immune cells play key roles in the inflammation, proliferation and remodeling that occur in wound healing. When skin integrity is damaged, immune cells migrate to the wound bed through the actions of chemokines and jointly restore tissue homeostasis and barrier function by exerting their respective biological functions. An imbalance of immune cells often leads to ineffective and disordered inflammatory responses. Due to the maladjusted microenvironment, the wound is unable to smoothly transition to the proliferation and remodeling stage, causing it to develop into a chronic refractory wound. However, chronic refractory wounds consistently lead to negative outcomes, such as long treatment cycles, high hospitalization rates, high medical costs, high disability rates, high mortality rates, and many adverse consequences. Therefore, strategies that promote the rational distribution and coordinated development of immune cells during wound healing are very important for the treatment of diabetic wounds (DW). Here, we explored the following aspects by performing a literature review: 1) the current situation of DW and an introduction to the biological functions of immune cells; 2) the role of immune cells in DW; and 3) existing (or undeveloped) therapies targeting immune cells to promote wound healing to provide new ideas for basic research, clinical treatment and nursing of DW.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianying Song
- Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
- School of Nursing, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Lixin Hu
- Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
- School of Nursing, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Bo Liu
- School of Nursing, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Nan Jiang
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Houqiang Huang
- Department of Nursing, the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - JieSi Luo
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Long Wang
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Jing Zeng
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Feihong Huang
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Min Huang
- Department of Respiratory and Critical Medicine, the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Luyao Cai
- School of Nursing, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Lingyu Tang
- School of Nursing, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Shunli Chen
- School of Nursing, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yinyi Chen
- School of Nursing, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Anguo Wu
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Silin Zheng
- Department of Nursing, the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
| | - Qi Chen
- Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
- School of Nursing, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
- Metabolic Vascular Disease Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
- Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases Key Laboratory of Luzhou, Luzhou, People’s Republic of China
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