| 1. |
- Backman, Max, et al.
(författare)
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Extending the immune phenotypes of lung cancer: Oasis in the desert
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Introduction: Tumor infiltrating immune cells are key elements of the tumor microenvironment and mediate the anti-tumor effects of immunotherapy. The aim of the study was to characterize patterns of immune cell infiltration in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in relation to tumor mutations and clinicopathological parameters. Methods: Lymphocytes (CD4+, CD8+, CD20+, FOXP3+, CD45RO+), macrophages (CD163+), plasma cells (CD138+), NK cells (NKp46+) and PD-L1+ were annotated on a tissue microarray including 357 operated NSCLC cases. Somatic mutations and tumor mutational burden were analyzed by targeted sequencing for 82 genes, and transcriptomic immune patterns were established in 197 patients based on RNAseq data. Results: We identified somatic mutations (TP53, NF1, KEAP1, CSMD3, LRP1B) that correlated with specific immune cell infiltrates. Hierarchical clustering revealed four immune classes: with (1) high immune cell infiltration (“inflamed”), (2) low immune cell infiltration (“desert”), (3) a mixed phenotype, and (4) a new phenotype with an overall muted inflammatory cell pattern but with an imprint of NK and plasma cells. This latter class exhibited low expression of immune response-related genes (e.g. CXCL9, GZMB, INFG, TGFB1), but was linked to better survival and therefore designated “oasis”. Otherwise, the four immune classes were not related to the presence of specific mutations (EGFR, KRAS, TP53) or histologic subtypes. Conclusion: We present a compartment-specific immune cell analysis in the context of the molecular and clinical background of NSCLC and identified the novel immune class “oasis”. The immune classification helps to better define the immunogenic potency of NSCLC in the era of immunotherapy.
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| 2. |
- Backman, Max, et al.
(författare)
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Infiltration of NK and plasma cells is associated with a distinct immune subset in non‐small cell lung cancer
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Pathology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0022-3417 .- 1096-9896. ; 255:3, s. 243-256
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Immune cells of the tumor microenvironment are central but erratic targets for immunotherapy. The aim of this study was to characterize novel patterns of immune cell infiltration in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in relation to its molecular and clinicopathologic characteristics. Lymphocytes (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD20+, FOXP3+, CD45RO+), macrophages (CD163+), plasma cells (CD138+), NK cells (NKp46+), PD1+, and PD-L1+ were annotated on a tissue microarray including 357 NSCLC cases. Somatic mutations were analyzed by targeted sequencing for 82 genes and a tumor mutational load score was estimated. Transcriptomic immune patterns were established in 197 patients based on RNA sequencing data. The immune cell infiltration was variable and showed only poor association with specific mutations. The previously defined immune phenotypic patterns, desert, inflamed, and immune excluded, comprised 30, 13, and 57% of cases, respectively. Notably, mRNA immune activation and high estimated tumor mutational load were unique only for the inflamed pattern. However, in the unsupervised cluster analysis, including all immune cell markers, these conceptual patterns were only weakly reproduced. Instead, four immune classes were identified: (1) high immune cell infiltration, (2) high immune cell infiltration with abundance of CD20+ B cells, (3) low immune cell infiltration, and (4) a phenotype with an imprint of plasma cells and NK cells. This latter class was linked to better survival despite exhibiting low expression of immune response-related genes (e.g. CXCL9, GZMB, INFG, CTLA4). This compartment-specific immune cell analysis in the context of the molecular and clinical background of NSCLC reveals two previously unrecognized immune classes. A refined immune classification, including traits of the humoral and innate immune response, is important to define the immunogenic potency of NSCLC in the era of immunotherapy. © 2021 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
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| 3. |
- Djureinovic, Dijana, et al.
(författare)
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Profiling cancer testis antigens in non-small-cell lung cancer
- 2016
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Ingår i: JCI INSIGHT. - : American Society for Clinical Investigation. - 2379-3708. ; 1:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are of clinical interest as biomarkers and present valuable targets for immunotherapy. To comprehensively characterize the CTA landscape of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we compared RNAseq data from 199 NSCLC tissues to the normal transcriptome of 142 samples from 32 different normal organs. Of 232 CTAs currently annotated in the Caner Testis Database (CTdatabase), 96 were confirmed in NSCLC. To obtain an unbiased CTA profile of NSCLC, we applied stringent criteria on our RNAseq data set and defined 90 genes as CTAs, of which 55 genes were not annotated in the CTdatabase, thus representing potential new CTAs. Cluster analysis revealed that CTA expression is histology dependent and concurrent expression is common. IHC confirmed tissue-specific protein expression of selected new CTAs (TKTL1, TGIF2LX, VCX, and CXORF67). Furthermore, methylation was identified as a regulatory mechanism of CTA expression based on independent data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. The proposed prognostic impact of CTAs in lung cancer was not confirmed, neither in our RNAseq cohort nor in an independent meta-analysis of 1,117 NSCLC cases. In summary, we defined a set of 90 reliable CTAs, including information on protein expression, methylation, and survival association. The detailed RNAseq catalog can guide biomarker studies and efforts to identify targets for immunotherapeutic strategies.
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| 4. |
- Edlund, Karolina, et al.
(författare)
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Prognostic Impact of Tumor Cell Programmed Death Ligand 1 Expression and Immune Cell Infiltration in NSCLC
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Thoracic Oncology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-0864 .- 1556-1380. ; 14:4, s. 628-640
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: Infiltration of T and B/plasma cells has been linked to NSCLC prognosis, but this has not been thoroughly investigated in relation to the expression of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1). Here, we determine the association of lymphocytes and PD-L1 with overall survival (OS) in two retrospective cohorts of operated NSCLC patients who were not treated with checkpoint inhibitors targeting the programmed death 1/PD-L1 axis. Moreover, we evaluate how PD-L1 positivity and clinicopathologic factors affect the prognostic association of lymphocytes.Methods: Cluster of differentiation (CD) 3 (CD3)-, CD8-, CD4-, forkhead box P3 (FOXP3)-, CD20-, CD79A-, and immunoglobulin kappa constant (IGKC)-positive immune cells, and tumor PD-L1 positivity, were determined by immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays (n = 705). Affymetrix data was analyzed for a patient subset, and supplemented with publicly available transcriptomics data (N = 1724). Associations with OS were assessed by Kaplan-Meier plots and uni- and multivariate Cox regression.Results: Higher levels of T and B plasma cells were associated with longer OS (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001, for CD8 and IGKC, respectively). Highly proliferative tumors with few lymphocytes had the worst outcome. No association of PD-L1 positivity with OS was observed in a nonstratified patient population; however, a significant association with shorter OS was observed in never-smokers (p = 0.009 and p = 0.002, 5% and 50% cutoff). Lymphocyte infiltration was not associated with OS in PD-L1–positive tumors (50% cutoff). The prognostic association of lymphocyte infiltration also depended on the patients’ smoking history and histologic subtype.Conclusions: Proliferation, PD-L1 status, smoking history, and histology should be considered if lymphocyte infiltration is to be used as a prognostic biomarker.
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| 5. |
- Hikmet Noraddin, Feria, et al.
(författare)
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Expression of cancer-testis antigens in the immune microenvironment of non-small cell lung cancer
- 2023
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Ingår i: Molecular Oncology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1574-7891 .- 1878-0261. ; 17:12, s. 2603-2617
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The antigenic repertoire of tumors is critical for successful anti-cancer immune response and the efficacy of immunotherapy. Cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) are targets of humoral and cellular immune reactions. We aimed to characterize CTA expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the context of the immune microenvironment. Of 90 CTAs validated by RNA sequencing, eight CTAs (DPEP3, EZHIP, MAGEA4, MAGEB2, MAGEC2, PAGE1, PRAME, and TKTL1) were selected for immunohistochemical profiling in cancer tissues from 328 NSCLC patients. CTA expression was compared with immune cell densities in the tumor environment and with genomic, transcriptomic, and clinical data. Most NSCLC cases (79%) expressed at least one of the analyzed CTAs, and CTA protein expression correlated generally with RNA expression. CTA profiles were associated with immune profiles: high MAGEA4 expression was related to M2 macrophages (CD163) and regulatory T cells (FOXP3), low MAGEA4 was associated with T cells (CD3), and high EZHIP was associated with plasma cell infiltration (adj. P-value < 0.05). None of the CTAs correlated with clinical outcomes. The current study provides a comprehensive evaluation of CTAs and suggests that their association with immune cells may indicate in situ immunogenic effects. The findings support the rationale to harness CTAs as targets for immunotherapy.
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| 6. |
- Micke, Patrick, et al.
(författare)
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The prognostic impact of the tumour stroma fraction : A machine learning-based analysis in 16 human solid tumour types
- 2021
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Ingår i: EBioMedicine. - : Elsevier. - 2352-3964. ; 65
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The development of a reactive tumour stroma is a hallmark of tumour progression and pronounced tumour stroma is generally considered to be associated with clinical aggressiveness. The variability between tumour types regarding stroma fraction, and its prognosis associations, have not been systematically analysed.Methods: Using an objective machine-learning method we quantified the tumour stroma in 16 solid cancer types from 2732 patients, representing retrospective tissue collections of surgically resected primary tumours. Image analysis performed tissue segmentation into stromal and epithelial compartment based on pan-cytokeratin staining and autofluorescence patterns.Findings: The stroma fraction was highly variable within and across the tumour types, with kidney cancer showing the lowest and pancreato-biliary type periampullary cancer showing the highest stroma proportion (median 19% and 73% respectively). Adjusted Cox regression models revealed both positive (pancreato-biliary type periampullary cancer and oestrogen negative breast cancer, HR(95%CI)=0.56(0.34-0.92) and HR (95%CI)=0.41(0.17-0.98) respectively) and negative (intestinal type periampullary cancer, HR(95%CI)=3.59 (1.49-8.62)) associations of the tumour stroma fraction with survival.Interpretation: Our study provides an objective quantification of the tumour stroma fraction across major types of solid cancer. Findings strongly argue against the commonly promoted view of a general associations between high stroma abundance and poor prognosis. The results also suggest that full exploitation of the prognostic potential of tumour stroma requires analyses that go beyond determination of stroma abundance.
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| 7. |
- Miyashita, Naoya, et al.
(författare)
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An Integrative Analysis of Transcriptome and Epigenome Features of ASCL1-Positive Lung Adenocarcinomas
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Thoracic Oncology. - : ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. - 1556-0864 .- 1556-1380. ; 13:11, s. 1676-1691
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: A subgroup of lung adenocarcinoma shows neuroendocrine differentiation and expression of achaete-scute family bHLH transcription factor 1 (ASCL1), common to high-grade neuroendocrine tumors, small-cell lung cancer and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. Methods: The aim of this study was to characterize clinical and molecular features of ASCL1-positive lung adenocarcinoma by using recent transcriptome profiling in multiple patient cohorts and genome-wide epigenetic profiling including data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Results: The ASCL1-positive subtype of lung adenocarcinoma developed preferentially in current or former smokers and usually did not harbor EGFR mutations. In transcriptome profiling, this subtype overlapped with the recently proposed proximal-proliferative molecular subtype. Gene expression profiling of ASCL1-positive cases suggested generally poor immune cell infiltration and none of the tumors were positive for programmed cell death ligand 1 protein expression. Genome-wide methylation analysis showed global DNA hypomethylation in ASCL1-positive cases. ASCL1 was associated with super-enhancers in ASCL1-positive lung adenocarcinoma cells, and ASCL1 silencing suppressed other super-enhancer-associated genes, suggesting thatASCL1 acts as a master transcriptional regulator. This was further reinforced by the essential roles of ASCL1 in cell proliferation, survival, and cell cycle control. Conclusions: These results suggest that ASCL1 defines a subgroup of lung adenocarcinoma with distinct molecular features by driving super-enhancer-mediated transcriptional programs.
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| 8. |
- Miyashita, Naoya, et al.
(författare)
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ASCL1 promotes tumor progression through cell-autonomous signaling and immune modulation in a subset of lung adenocarcinoma
- 2020
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Ingår i: Cancer Letters. - : Elsevier BV. - 0304-3835 .- 1872-7980. ; 489, s. 121-132
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The master regulator of neuroendocrine differentiation, achaete-scute complex homolog 1 (ASCL1) defines a subgroup of lung adenocarcinoma. However, the mechanistic role of ASCL1 in lung tumorigenesis and its relation to the immune microenvironment is principally unknown. Here, the immune landscape of ASCL1-positive lung adenocarcinomas was characterized by immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, ASCL1 was transduced in mouse lung adenocarcinoma cell lines and comparative RNA-sequencing and secretome analyses were performed. The effects of ASCL1 on tumorigenesis were explored in an orthotopic syngeneic transplantation model.ASCL1-positive lung adenocarcinomas revealed lower infiltration of CD8+, CD4+, CD20+, and FOXP3+ lymphocytes and CD163+ macrophages indicating an immune desert phenotype. Ectopic ASCL1 upregulated cyclin transcript levels, stimulated cell proliferation, and enhanced tumor growth in mice. ASCL1 suppressed secretion of chemokines, including CCL20, CXCL2, CXCL10, and CXCL16, indicating effects on immune cell trafficking. In accordance with lower lymphocytes infiltration, ASCL1-positive lung adenocarcinomas demonstrated lower abundance of CXCR3-and CCR6-expressing cells.In conclusion, ASCL1 mediates its tumor-promoting effect not only through cell-autonomous signaling but also by modulating chemokine production and immune responses. These findings suggest that ASCL1-positive tumors represent a clinically relevant lung cancer entity.
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| 9. |
- Uhlén, Mathias, et al.
(författare)
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A pathology atlas of the human cancer transcriptome
- 2017
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 357:6352, s. 660-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cancer is one of the leading causes of death, and there is great interest in understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis and progression of individual tumors. We used systems-level approaches to analyze the genome-wide transcriptome of the protein-coding genes of 17 major cancer types with respect to clinical outcome. A general pattern emerged: Shorter patient survival was associated with up-regulation of genes involved in cell growth and with down-regulation of genes involved in cellular differentiation. Using genome-scale metabolic models, we show that cancer patients have widespread metabolic heterogeneity, highlighting the need for precise and personalized medicine for cancer treatment. All data are presented in an interactive open-access database (www.proteinatlas.org/pathology) to allow genome-wide exploration of the impact of individual proteins on clinical outcomes.
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