title: Higher numbers of T-bet(+) intratumoral lymphoid cells correlate with better survival in gastric cancer.
abstract: In the present study, we studied the expression of T-bet, a key marker for type 1 immune responses, within the tumor microenvironment of gastric cancer, and analyzed its association with clinicopathological parameters. One hundred and fifty-two archival paraffin-embedded gastric tumor tissues were collected, and the expression of T-bet in these cancer tissue specimens was examined by immunohistochemistry. T-bet(+) tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in some gastric cancer tissues were further characterized by flow cytometric analysis. The density of T-bet(+) TILs in gastric cancer tissues in relation to patient's clinicopathological parameters and postoperative prognosis has been analyzed. Herein, we have found significant increases in T-bet(+) lymphocytes in tumor tissues as compared with normal stomach tissues, gastritis tissues or gastric polyp specimens. T-bet(+) cells mainly consisted of CD4(+), CD8(+) and CD56(+) TILs. In addition, lower numbers of T-bet(+) TILs were associated with poor clinicopathological parameters such as invasion to muscular layer, larger tumor size and advanced cancer stages. Moreover, patients with higher numbers of T-bet(+) TILs have longer disease-free survival and overall survival. Thus, our study supports the idea that tumor growth elicits spontaneous type 1 cellular immune responses and tumor progression is associated with suppression of antitumor immunity. T-bet expression within tumor can serve as a prognostic indicator for gastric cancer and a potential biomarker for immunotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China. clj_sz@163.com
authors.forename: Lu-jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Yue-ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Yi-bei
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Junjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Shu-ming
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Chang-ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xue-guang
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bin-feng
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Jing-ting
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016246:Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D013270:Stomach / Q000166:cytology; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality; D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D000098815:T-bet Transcription Factor
chemical_list: D020825:T-Box Domain Proteins; D000098815:T-bet Transcription Factor