1 Department of Forensic Medicine, National Forensic Service Busan Institute, Yangsan, Republic of Korea.
2 Department of Pathology, Eulji University Hospital, Eulji University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Int J Biol Markers. 2019 Jun;34(2):132-138. doi: 10.1177/1724600818817320. Epub 2019 Mar 11.
This study aimed to elucidate the clinicopathological significance and prognostic role of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in colorectal cancer.
The immunohistochemistry of CD3 and CD8 was performed on 265 human colorectal cancer tissues to investigate the tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes using Immunoscore. The correlation between Immunoscore and clinicopathological characteristics, including survival rates, was elucidated. In addition, the impact of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes on programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein expression was evaluated through immunohistochemistry.
Of the 265 colorectal cancer tissues, 40.8% had high Immunoscore, while 59.2% had low Immunoscore. A high Immunoscore was significantly correlated with favorable tumor behaviors, including lower rates of vascular, lymphatic, and perineural invasion; lymph node metastasis; and distant metastasis. PD-L1 expressions of tumor and immune cells were significantly higher in patients with high Immunoscore than in those with low Immunoscore. In addition, colorectal cancer tissues with high CD8-positive lymphocytes showed higher PD-L1 expressions of tumor and immune cells than colorectal cancer tissues with low CD8-positive lymphocytes. There was a significant correlation between high Immunoscore and better overall survival. However, there was no significant difference in survival rate according to PD-L1 expressions of tumor and immune cells in high and low Immunoscore subgroups.
Taken together, our results showed that high tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes were significantly correlated with favorable tumor behaviors and better survival. In addition, there was a significant correlation between PD-L1 expression and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.
本研究旨在阐明结直肠癌肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞的临床病理意义和预后作用。
对 265 例人结直肠癌组织进行 CD3 和 CD8 的免疫组化染色，采用免疫评分（Immunoscore）法检测肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞。分析免疫评分与临床病理特征的相关性及其与生存率的关系。此外，还通过免疫组化评估肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞对程序性死亡配体 1（PD-L1）蛋白表达的影响。
在 265 例结直肠癌组织中，40.8%具有高免疫评分，59.2%具有低免疫评分。高免疫评分与肿瘤的良好生物学行为显著相关，包括较低的血管、淋巴和神经周围侵犯率、淋巴结转移和远处转移率。高免疫评分患者的肿瘤和免疫细胞 PD-L1 表达显著高于低免疫评分患者。此外，高 CD8 阳性淋巴细胞浸润的结直肠癌组织的肿瘤和免疫细胞 PD-L1 表达高于低 CD8 阳性淋巴细胞浸润的结直肠癌组织。高免疫评分与总生存率显著相关。然而，在高免疫评分亚组中，肿瘤和免疫细胞 PD-L1 表达的高低与生存率无显著差异。
综上所述，本研究结果表明，高肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞与良好的肿瘤生物学行为和更好的生存显著相关。此外，PD-L1 表达与肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞之间存在显著相关性。
