Abstract
Lymphocytes play a leading role in regulation of the immune system in lung cancer patients. Little is known about maturation of individual T cell population in cancer milieu. The recognition of the direction of maturation of T cells may help in prediction of effectiveness of anticancer immunotherapy.
The aim of this study was to determine the CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes maturation in metastatic (n=18) and non-metastatic LNs (n=12) of patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
LNs aspirates were obtained during EBUS/TBNA procedure. The cells were analysed by flow cytometry.
The definition of T cell subpopulations and the differences between metastatic and non-metastatic LNs are presented in Table 1 (median q25-q75* p<0.05).
| Lymphocyte population |
metastatic LNs |
non-metastatic LNs |
| *T CD3 | 28.4 (18.7-51.8) | 50.0 (34.2-61.9) |
| Naive T CD4 | 24.5 (12.8-53.6) | 39.6 (16.5-48.3) |
| Effector T CD4 | 5.8 (3.0-18.2) | 9.7 (3.9-19.4) |
| Central memory T CD4 | 30.0 (15.1-49.2) | 34.0 (18.1-53.3) |
| *Effector memory T CD4 | 28.7 (13.9-36.9) | 15.3 (7.5-22.2) |
| Recent thymic emigrants T CD4 | 6.2 (3.6-12.2) | 11.1 (5.9-16.0) |
| Naive T CD8 | 19.8 (11.0-33.2) | 37.0 (10.9-48.2) |
| Effector T CD8 | 22.4 (14.4-30.6) | 17.0 (8.6-26.9) |
| Central memory T CD8 | 17.3 (8.0-29.2) | 15.8 (9.7-30.2) |
| *Effector memory T CD8 | 28.7 (10.5-45.2) | 14.0 (8.5-20.5) |
| *Recent thymic emigrants T CD8 | 4.3 (2.5-8.7) | 15.4 (6.2-23.3) |
We report for the first-time the significant differences in T cells maturation depending on the NSCLC metastatic process. We observed that the effector memory T CD4+ and CD8+ were predominant subpopulations in metastatic LNs. Lymphocyte profile in LNs is easy to evaluate by flow cytometry of EBUS-TBNA samples and may reflect the immune status in NSCLC.
Footnotes
Cite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2021; 58: Suppl. 65, PA681.
This abstract was presented at the 2021 ERS International Congress, in session “Prediction of exacerbations in patients with COPD”.
This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2021
