Immune profiling and quantitative analysis decipher the clinical role of immune checkpoint expression in the tumor immune microenvironment of DLBCL
2019
PD-1/
L1and
CTLA-4blockade immunotherapies have been approved for twelve types of cancer and are being studied in
diffuse large B-cell lymphoma(DLBCL), the most common aggressive
B-cell lymphoma. However, whether both PD-1 and
CTLA-4checkpoints are active and clinically significant in DLBCL is unknown. Whether PD-1 ligands expressed by tumor cells or by the microenvironment of DLBCL are critical for
immune checkpointis unclear. We performed immunophenotypic profiling for 405 patients with de novo DLBCL using a MultiOmyx immunofluorescence platform and simultaneously quantitated expression/coexpression of 13 immune markers to identify prognostic determinants. In both training and validation cohorts, results demonstrated a central role of the immune microenvironment, and when its functionality was impaired by deficiency in tumor-infiltrating T cells and/or natural killer cells, high PD-1 expression (but not
CTLA-4) on CD8+ T cells, or
PD-L1expression on T cells and macrophages, patients had significantly poorer survival after rituximab-CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) immunochemotherapy. In contrast, tumor cell PD-L2 expression was associated with superior survival, as well as
PD-L1+CD20+ cells proximal (indicates interaction) to PD-1+CD8+ T cells in patients with low PD-1+ percentage of CD8+ T cells. Gene expression profiling suggested the reversibility of T-cell exhaustion in PD-1+/
PD-L1+ patients with unfavorable prognosis and implication of LILRA/B, IDO1,
CHI3L1, and
SOD2upregulation in the microenvironment dysfunction with
PD-L1expression. This study comprehensively characterized the DLBCL immune landscape, deciphered the differential roles of various checkpoint components in rituximab-CHOP resistance in DLBCL patients, and suggests targets for PD-1/
PD-L1blockade and combination immunotherapies.
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