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. 2024 Jun 10;13(1):2361971.
doi: 10.1080/2162402X.2024.2361971. eCollection 2024.

Exploring immune status in peripheral blood and tumor tissue in association with survival in patients with multi-organ metastatic colorectal cancer

Lotte Bakkerus  1 , Beatriz Subtil  2 , Hetty J Bontkes  3 , Elske C Gootjes  1 , Martine Reijm  3 , Manon Vullings  2 , Kiek Verrijp  4 , John-Melle Bokhorst  4 , Carmen Woortman  4 , Iris D Nagtegaal  4 , Marianne A Jonker  5 , Hans J van der Vliet  6 , Cornelis Verhoef  7 , Mark A J Gorris  2 , I Jolanda M de Vries  2 , Tanja D de Gruijl  6 , Henk M W Verheul  1   8 , Tineke E Buffart  6 , Daniele V F Tauriello  2   8
Affiliations

Exploring immune status in peripheral blood and tumor tissue in association with survival in patients with multi-organ metastatic colorectal cancer

Lotte Bakkerus et al. Oncoimmunology. .

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) raises considerable clinical challenges, including a high mortality rate once the tumor spreads to distant sites. At this advanced stage, more accurate prediction of prognosis and treatment outcome is urgently needed. The role of cancer immunity in metastatic CRC (mCRC) is poorly understood. Here, we explore cellular immune cell status in patients with multi-organ mCRC. We analyzed T cell infiltration in primary tumor sections, surveyed the lymphocytic landscape of liver metastases, and assessed circulating mononuclear immune cells. Besides asking whether immune cells are associated with survival at this stage of the disease, we investigated correlations between the different tissue types; as this could indicate a dominant immune phenotype. Taken together, our analyses corroborate previous observations that higher levels of CD8+ T lymphocytes link to better survival outcomes. Our findings therefore extend evidence from earlier stages of CRC to indicate an important role for cancer immunity in disease control even after metastatic spreading to multiple organs. This finding may help to improve predicting outcome of patients with mCRC and suggests a future role for immunotherapeutic strategies.

Keywords: Clinical-stage research; colorectal cancer; metastasis; prognostic biomarkers; systemic immunity; tumour immune microenvironment; tumour immunity.

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Conflict of interest statement

TdG received research funding from Idera Pharmaceuticals, consultancy fees from LAVA Therapeutics, GE Health, and Mendus, and holds stocks from LAVA Therapeutics. Other authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Overview of the study sub-cohorts and their general survival distribution.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Analysis of circulating immune cell numbers in relation to patient survival.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Analysis of circulating immune cell proportions in relation to patient survival.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
IHC analysis of primary CRC T cell infiltration in relation to patient survival.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
mIF analysis of liver metastasis lymphocyte infiltration linked to survival.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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