Co-expression of PD-1 with TIGIT or PD-1 with TIM-3 on tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells showed synergistic effects on improved disease-free survival in treatment-naïve CRC patients

Meyiah, A; Chalbatani, GM; Al-Mterin, M; Malekraeisi, MA; Murshed, K; Elkord, E

Abstract

Immune checkpoints (ICs) are highly expressed on tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) in different malignancies, including colorectal cancer (CRC). T cells play crucial roles in shaping CRC, and their presence in the tumor microenvironment (TME) has proven to be one of the best predictors of clinical outcomes. A crucial component of the immune system is cytotoxic CD8+ T cells (CTLs), which play decisive roles in the prognosis of CRC. In this study, we investigated associations of immune checkpoints expressed on tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells with disease-free survival (DFS) in 45 naïve-treatment CRC patients. First, we examined the associations of single ICs, and found that CRC patients with higher levels of T-cell immunoglobulin and ITIM-domain (TIGIT), T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-3 (TIM-3) and programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) CD8+ T cells tended to have longer DFS. Interestingly, when PD-1 expression was combined with other ICs, there were more evident and stronger associations between higher levels of PD-1+ with TIGIT+ or PD-1+ with TIM-3+ tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells and longer DFS. Our findings for TIGIT were validated in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) CRC dataset. This study is the first to report on the association of co-expression of PD-1 with TIGIT and PD-1 with TIM-3 in CD8+ T cells and improved DFS in treatment-naïve CRC patients. This work highlights the significance of immune checkpoint expression on tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells as critical predictive biomarkers, especially when co-expression of different ICs is considered.

Citation

Meyiah, A., Chalbatani, G., Al-Mterin, M., Malekraeisi, M., Murshed, K., & Elkord, E. (2023). Co-expression of PD-1 with TIGIT or PD-1 with TIM-3 on tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells showed synergistic effects on improved disease-free survival in treatment-naïve CRC patients. International Immunopharmacology, 119,

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 14, 2023
• Publication Date: Apr 24, 2023
• Deposit Date: May 3, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: May 3, 2023
• Journal: International Immunopharmacology
• Print ISSN: 1567-5769
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 119
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intimp.2023.110207