Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Department of Education and Research, Central Finland Health Care District, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Br J Cancer. 2022 Aug;127(3):514-523. doi: 10.1038/s41416-022-01822-6. Epub 2022 Apr 21.
Although high T cell density is a strong favourable prognostic factor in colorectal cancer, the significance of the spatial distribution of T cells is incompletely understood. We aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of tumour cell-T cell co-localisation and T cell densities.
We analysed CD3 and CD8 immunohistochemistry in a study cohort of 983 colorectal cancer patients and a validation cohort (N = 246). Individual immune and tumour cells were identified to calculate T cell densities (to derive T cell density score) and G-cross function values, estimating the likelihood of tumour cells being co-located with T cells within 20 µm radius (to derive T cell proximity score).
High T cell proximity score associated with longer cancer-specific survival in both the study cohort [adjusted HR for high (vs. low) 0.33, 95% CI 0.20-0.52, P < 0.0001] and the validation cohort [adjusted HR for high (vs. low) 0.15, 95% CI 0.05-0.45, P < 0.0001] and its prognostic value was independent of T cell density score.
The spatial point pattern analysis of tumour cell-T cell co-localisation could provide detailed information on colorectal cancer prognosis, supporting the value of spatial measurement of T cell infiltrates as a novel, robust tumour-immune biomarker.
尽管高 T 细胞密度是结直肠癌的一个强有力的有利预后因素，但 T 细胞的空间分布的意义尚未完全了解。我们旨在评估肿瘤细胞与 T 细胞共定位和 T 细胞密度的预后意义。
我们分析了 983 例结直肠癌患者和验证队列（N=246）的 CD3 和 CD8 免疫组化。为了计算 T 细胞密度（得出 T 细胞密度评分）和 G 交叉函数值，我们分别鉴定了单个免疫细胞和肿瘤细胞，估计肿瘤细胞与 20μm 半径内 T 细胞共定位的可能性（得出 T 细胞邻近评分）。
在研究队列[高（与低相比）的调整 HR 为 0.33，95%CI 为 0.20-0.52，P<0.0001]和验证队列[高（与低相比）的调整 HR 为 0.15，95%CI 为 0.05-0.45，P<0.0001]中，高 T 细胞邻近评分与更长的癌症特异性生存相关，其预后价值独立于 T 细胞密度评分。
肿瘤细胞与 T 细胞共定位的空间点模式分析可以为结直肠癌的预后提供详细信息，支持 T 细胞浸润的空间测量作为一种新的、强大的肿瘤免疫生物标志物的价值。
