Open AccessIdentification of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte subpopulations correlated with patient prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
Author(s) -
Peng Lin,
Wenwu He,
Feng Yang,
Yane Song,
Xiaojian Shi,
Jiao Zhang,
Qingyun Li,
Qiang Fang,
Wei Xiao,
Yongtao Han
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of international medical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1473-2300
pISSN - 0300-0605
DOI - 10.1177/03000605211016206
Subject(s) - medicine , chemotherapy , infiltration (hvac) , oncology , esophageal squamous cell carcinoma , biomarker , tumor infiltrating lymphocytes , immune system , cancer research , carcinoma , immunology , cd8 , biology , biochemistry , physics , thermodynamics
Objective To identify biomarkers related to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) prognosis by analyzing genetic variations and the infiltration levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in patients.Methods The clinical features of 61 patients with ESCC were collected. DNA panel sequencing was performed to screen differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Transcriptome sequencing was performed to identify gene expression profiles, and subsequent enrichment analysis of DEGs was conducted using Metascape.Results We identified 488 DEGs between patients with ESCC with distinct prognoses that were mainly enriched in the human immune response, fibrinogen complex, and protein activation cascade pathways. Among patients with ESCC treated with postoperative chemotherapy, those with a high infiltration level of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) had longer overall survival (OS), and OS was positively correlated with the infiltration level of T helper type 2 (Th2) cells among patients treated without chemotherapy after surgery. Additionally, in the case of MDSCs >0.7059 or Th2 cells <0.6290, patients receiving postoperative chemotherapy had a longer OS than those treated without chemotherapy following surgery.Conclusion The level of MDSCs or Th2 cells can be used as a biomarker for assessing the prognosis of patients with ESCC treated with or without postoperative chemotherapy, respectively.