文章基本信息

标题：Delineation of an immunosuppressive gradient in hepatocellular carcinoma using high-dimensional proteomic and transcriptomic analyses
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作者：Valerie Chew ; Liyun Lai ; Lu Pan 等
期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2017
卷号：114
期号：29
页码：E5900-E5909
DOI：10.1073/pnas.1706559114
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：The recent development of immunotherapy as a cancer treatment has proved effective over recent years, but the precise dynamics between the tumor microenvironment (TME), nontumor microenvironment (NTME), and the systemic immune system remain elusive. Here, we interrogated these compartments in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using high-dimensional proteomic and transcriptomic analyses. By time-of-flight mass cytometry, we found that the TME was enriched in regulatory T cells (Tregs), tissue resident memory CD8⁺ T cells (T_RMs), resident natural killer cells (NK_Rs), and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). This finding was also validated with immunofluorescence staining on Foxp3⁺CD4⁺ and PD-1⁺CD8⁺ T cells. Interestingly, Tregs and T_RMs isolated from the TME expressed multiple markers for T-cell exhaustion, including PD-1, Lag-3, and Tim-3 compared with Tregs and T_RMs isolated from the NTME. We found PD-1⁺ T_RMs were the predominant T-cell subset responsive to anti–PD-1 treatment and significantly reduced in number with increasing HCC tumor progression. Furthermore, T-bet was identified as a key transcription factor, negatively correlated with PD-1 expression on memory CD8⁺ T cells, and the PD-1:T-bet ratio increased upon exposure to tumor antigens. Finally, transcriptomic analysis of tumor and adjacent nontumor tissues identified a chemotactic gradient for recruitment of TAMs and NK_Rs via CXCR3/CXCL10 and CCR6/CCL20 pathways, respectively. Taken together, these data confirm the existence of an immunosuppressive gradient across the TME, NTME, and peripheral blood in primary HCC that manipulates the activation status of tumor-infiltrating leukocytes and renders them immunocompromised against tumor cells. By understanding the immunologic composition of this gradient, more effective immunotherapeutics for HCC may be designed.
关键词：CyTOF ; tumor microenvironment ; regulatory T cells ; resident memory T cells ; hepatocellular carcinoma