Open AccessClinical efficacy of nivolumab is associated with tertiary lymphoid structures in surgically resected primary tumors of recurrent gastric cancer
Author(s) -
Takuya Mori,
Hiroaki Tanaka,
Sota Deguchi,
Yoshihito Yamakoshi,
Yuichiro Miki,
Mami Yoshii,
Tatsuro Tajiri,
Takahiro Toyokawa,
Shigeru Lee,
Kazuya Muguruma,
Masaichi Ohira
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0262455
Subject(s) - nivolumab , medicine , immune system , immunohistochemistry , immune checkpoint , cancer , oncology , immunotherapy , pathology , immunology
Nivolumab, an immune checkpoint blocker, has been approved for advanced gastric cancer (GC), but predictive factors of nivolumab’s efficacy in patients with GC, especially immune cells such as tissue-resident memory T cells or those forming tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS), remain unclear. Tissue samples were obtained from surgically resected specimens of patients with GC who were treated with nivolumab as third-line or later treatment. Immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the presence of TLS and CD103 + T cells and assess the association between TLSs and response to nivolumab treatment. A total of 19 patients were analyzed. In patients with partial response (PR) to nivolumab, numerous TLS were observed, and CD103 + T cells were found in and around TLS. Patients with many TLS experienced immune-related adverse events more often than those with few TLS ( p = 0.018). The prognosis of patients with TLS high was better than those with TLS low. Patients with a combination of TLS high and CD103 high tended to have a better prognosis than other groups. Our results suggested that TLS status might be a predictor of nivolumab effectiveness.