CXCR5+ CD8+ T cells potently infiltrate pancreatic tumors and present high functionality

Journal Article · Fri Dec 15 04:00:00 EST 2017 · Experimental Cell Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.YEXCR.2017.09.039· OSTI ID:22901305

Bai, Minghui ^[1]; Zheng, Youwei ^[2]; Liu, Haichao; Su, Baowei; Zhan, Yong; He, Hua ^[1]

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1. The Second Ward, Department of Hepatobiliary and Hernia Surgery, Luoyang Central Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Luoyang, Henan (China)
2. Department of Hepatobiliary and Hernia Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan Science and Technology Univeristy, Luoyang, Henan (China)

Despite continued improvement in conventional therapy, pancreatic cancer continues to be one of the deadliest tumors worldwide with abysmal 5-year survival rate. New immunotherapeutic strategies that aim at improving antitumor cytotoxic CD8{sup +} T cell responses are being developed in solid tumors. To assist the development of immunotherapies, we investigated the CD8{sup +} T cells in pancreatic cancer patients. Compared to healthy individuals, pancreatic cancer patients presented a significant enrichment in the frequency of CD8{sup +}CXCR5{sup +} T cells. In the tumor microenvironment, the frequencies of CD8{sup +}CXCR5{sup +} T cells were further increased. In most cases, over half of tumor-infiltrating CD8{sup +} T cells were CD8{sup +}CXCR5{sup +} T cells. Compared to the circulating population, the tumor-infiltrating CD8{sup +}CXCR5{sup +} T cells expressed higher levels of PD-1 and TIM-3. Functional analyses demonstrated that upon CD3/CD28 activation, the percentages of TNF-expressing and IFN-γ-expressing cells in CD8{sup +}CXCR5{sup +} T cells were significantly higher than that in CD8{sup +}CXCR5{sup -} T cells. CD8{sup +}CXCR5{sup +} T cells also presented enhanced cytotoxicity than CD8{sup +}CXCR5{sup -} T cells. Upon PD-1 and TIM-3 blockade, the functions of CD8{sup +}CXCR5{sup +} T cells were further improved. The disease-free survival of pancreatic cancer patients following tumor resection was positively correlated with the frequencies of circulating and tumor-infiltrating CD8{sup +}CXCR5{sup +} T cells. Together, our study identified that CD8{sup +}CXCR5{sup +} T cells were a potent subset of CD8{sup +} T cells that were highly enriched in pancreatic cancer patients and could respond to anti-PD-1/anti-TIM-3 blockade by further upregulation in function.

• OSTI ID: 22901305
• Journal Information: Experimental Cell Research, Journal Name: Experimental Cell Research Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 361; ISSN 0014-4827; ISSN ECREAL
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
IMMUNOTHERAPY
NEOPLASMS
PANCREAS
PATIENTS
TOXICITY