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The association between clinical outcome and CD 8 + lymphocytic infiltration in advanced stages of colorectal cancer differs by latent virus infection in tumour tissue
Author(s) -
Kleist Britta,
Bagdonas Marius,
Oommen Prakash,
Schoenhardt Irina,
Levermann Janina,
Poetsch Micaela
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
histopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.626
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1365-2559
pISSN - 0309-0167
DOI - 10.1111/his.13325
Subject(s) - virus , colorectal cancer , infiltration (hvac) , immunity , polymerase chain reaction , immunology , biology , medicine , pathology , immune system , cancer , gene , biochemistry , physics , thermodynamics
Aims In the near future, an immunoscore based on the quantification of lymphocytic populations can be expected as a fundamental supplement of colorectal cancer ( CRC ) classification. This study explored whether latent viral infection has an influence on prognostically relevant host immunity in CRC . Methods and results CD 8 + lymphocytic infiltration in three tumour compartments of 121 CRC was compared with clinical data and occurrence of latent infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV1, HSV2), cytomegalovirus ( CMV ), human papillomavirus (HPV16 and HPV18) in the tumour tissue, which was determined by polymerase chain reaction ( PCR ). Intraepithelial CD 8 + lymphocytic infiltration ( IE CD 8+ ) showed a trend towards correlation with clinical stage ( P = 0.073), significant differences between CRC with and without metastases ( P = 0.001) and a significant correlation with overall survival ( OS , P = 0.001). Each of these three clinical parameters showed a significant link to IE CD 8+ in the virus DNA ‐negative ( P ‐values: 0.001–0.036), but no significant differences in the virus DNA ‐positive subgroup, which is consistent with a moderating effect of virus DNA on these associations. A significant correlation of CD 8 + infiltration in the invasive margin ( IM CD 8+ ) with OS ( P = 0.016) was also moderated by virus DNA . Conclusion Our data suggest a possible influence of latent viral infection on the association between clinical outcome and CD 8 + lymphocytic infiltration in CRC tissue. After confirmation of these results by large cohort studies, a potential interaction between microbial pathogens and host immunity in CRC and its impact on prognostic immunoscores and/or new therapeutic strategies should be investigated further.