Infiltration of CD8+ T cells in non-small cell lung cancer is associated with dedifferentiation of cancer cells, but not with prognosis.
CD8+ T cells infiltrating within cancer cell nests in human colorectal cancer were associated with a favorable patients' survival, suggesting the presence of anti-tumor immunity. The present study was designed to examine this concept in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by a retrospective analysis of 128 surgically resected cases. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the number of CD8+ T cells within cancer cell nests in NSCLC was related to the histological subtype (large cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma > adenocarcinoma) and the degree of dedifferentiation (undifferentiated type > differentiated type). In contrast to colorectal cancer, the number of CD8+ T cells in NSCLC had no statistically significant impact on the patients' survival. The present study demonstrated that the degree of infiltration of CD8+ T cells within cancer cell nests is dependent on the dedifferentiation of cancer cells in NSCLC, which could be one of the important aspects for the study of tumor immunity.
Mori
M
M
Department of Pathology, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
Ohtani
H
H
Naito
Y
Y
Sagawa
M
M
Sato
M
M
Fujimura
S
S
Nagura
H
H
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D018287:Carcinoma, Large Cell / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D016246:Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis