GSE159051
Intrahepatic CD69+ Vd1 T cells recirculate in the blood of patients affected by liver metastatic colorectal cancer and predict their overall survival
More than 50% of all patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) develop liver metastasis (CLM) that are characterized by poor prognosis and lack of reliable prognostic markers. Vd1 T cells are gd T innate-like lymphocytes endowed with a broad array of antitumor functions at peripheral tissues, but little is known about their impact in the pathophysiology of CLM. We assessed the phenotype and functions by flow cytometry, clonotype by gdTCR-sequencing, transcriptional profiles by single cell RNA-sequencing and clinical impact of human Vd1 T cells isolated from peripheral blood (PB), tumor-free liver parenchyma surrounding CLM (TFLP) and metastatic tumor (MT) from a large cohort of CLM patients. We show here that CLM tissue is highly enriched of CD69+ Vd1 T effector (TEF) cells in the TFLP area. These cells have a peculiar phenotype, high anti-tumour potential and correlate with a better clinical outcome in terms of lower numbers of liver metastatic lesions and longer overall survival (OS). Moreover, the specific terminally differentiated (TEMRA) CD69+ Vd1 cells can egress CLM tissue to re-circulate in the bloodstream, where they retains high effector functions and show phenotypic/transcriptional and gdTCR profiles that resemble their liver origin. Importantly, high frequencies of CD69+TEMRA Vd1 cells in PB predict a longer OS of CLM patients that is not affected by the neo-adjuvant chemotherapy/immunotherapy regimens administered to CLM patients. The presence at high frequencies of liver memory CD69+TEMRA Vd1 cells in CLM homing to PB represents a new important target to better predict CLM clinical outcomes and to develop novel protocols of adoptive cell transfer therapies. Overall design: A total of three blood samples deriving from three CLM patients