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Immunological impact of chemotherapy on the tumor microenvironment in gastric cancer
Author(s) -
Wei Qing,
Xu Qi,
Yuan Xing,
Li JingJing,
Chen Lei,
Luo Cong,
Zhu Xiu,
Ying JieEr
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.26449
Subject(s) - medicine , cd163 , chemotherapy , cd68 , tumor microenvironment , hazard ratio , cd8 , oncology , immune system , cancer , cd3 , immunohistochemistry , immunology , confidence interval , macrophage , biology , biochemistry , in vitro
Objective This study aimed to investigate alterations in pre‐ and post‐neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) tumor‐infiltrating immune cells and subsequent evaluation of the predictive and prognostic value of these changes in gastric cancer (GC). Methods Fifty patients with GC underwent three cycles of S‐1 and oxaliplatin (SOX regimen)‐NACT. Paired samples from tumor lesions before and after NACT were available for all patients participating in the study. Immunohistochemistry was performed for T cell subsets (CD3 + and CD8 + ) and macrophages (CD68 + and CD163 + ). Results After NACT, the average expression levels of CD3, CD8, CD68, and CD163 were significantly increased ( p < .001 ). However, neither expression levels pre‐ nor post‐chemotherapy correlated with treatment response. Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that upregulation of CD8/CD3 levels (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.117; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.031–0.446; p = 0.002) and CD163 levels after chemotherapy (HR = 2.258; 95% CI = 1.047–4.867; p = 0.038) were independent prognostic factors of overall survival. Conclusion Chemotherapy in GC is useful to induce CD3 + and CD8 + T lymphocytes as well as CD68 + and CD163 + macrophages in the tumor microenvironment in combination with its direct cytotoxic effects. These results indicate that chemotherapy may play a role in tumor immune microenvironment remodeling.