Immune Cell Infiltration of the Primary Tumor Microenvironment Predicted the Treatment Outcome of Chemotherapy With or Without Bevacizumab in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND

With the interest in cancer immunotherapy, it may be possible to combine immunotherapy with bevacizumab and chemotherapy. We evaluated whether tumor-infiltrating immune cells are associated with the efficacy of chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

METHODS

This study enrolled mCRC patients on standard treatment with available detailed data and tumor tissue at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between July 1, 2005, and October 1, 2017. CD3+ and CD8+ T cell densities examined by immunohistochemistry in both the tumor core (CT) and invasive margin (IM) were summed as the Immunoscore, and the CD8+/CD3+ T cell ratio was calculated. The predictive and prognostic efficacies of tumor-infiltrating immune cells for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed with Kaplan-Meier and Cox analyses.

RESULTS

The CD8+/CD3+ T cell ratio in the microenvironment was an independent prognostic factor for OS (28.12 mo vs. 16.56 mo, = 0.017) among the 108 studied patients. In the chemotherapy only group, patients with a high Immunoscore had a high overall response rate (ORR, 40.0% vs. 60.0%, = 0.022), those with a low CD8+/CD3+ T cell ratio in the microenvironment had a significantly longer PFS (8.64 mo vs. 6.01 mo, = 0.017), and those with a high CD3+ T cell density in the CT had a longer OS (16.56 mo vs. 25.66 mo, = 0.029). In the chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab group, patients with a higher CD8+ T cell density in the IM had a longer PFS (7.62 mo vs. 11.66 mo, = 0.034) and OS (14.55 mo vs. 23.72 mo, = 0.033).

CONCLUSION

Immune cells in primary tumors play an important role in predicting mCRC treatment efficacy. CD8 predicts the effect of bevacizumab plus chemotherapy, while CD3 and CD8/CD3 predict chemotherapy efficacy.