Low stromal Foxp3+ regulatory T-cell density is associated with complete response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in rectal cancer

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Abstract

Background:

Foxp3 ⁺ regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a vital role in preventing autoimmunity, but also suppress antitumour immune responses. Tumour infiltration by Tregs has strong prognostic significance in colorectal cancer, and accumulating evidence suggests that chemotherapy and radiotherapy efficacy has an immune-mediated component. Whether Tregs play an inhibitory role in chemoradiotherapy (CRT) response in rectal cancer remains unknown.

Methods:

Foxp3 ⁺, CD3 ⁺, CD4 ⁺, CD8 ⁺ and IL-17 ⁺ cell density in post-CRT surgical samples from 128 patients with rectal cancer was assessed by immunohistochemistry. The relationship between T-cell subset densities and clinical outcome (tumour regression and survival) was evaluated.

Results:

Stromal Foxp3 ⁺ cell density was strongly associated with tumour regression grade ( P=0.0006). A low stromal Foxp3 ⁺ cell density was observed in 84% of patients who had a pathologic complete response (pCR) compared with 41% of patients who did not (OR: 7.56, P=0.0005; OR: 5.27, P=0.006 after adjustment for presurgery clinical factors). Low stromal Foxp3 ⁺ cell density was also associated with improved recurrence-free survival (HR: 0.46, P=0.03), although not independent of tumour regression grade.

Conclusions:

Regulatory T cells in the tumour microenvironment may inhibit response to neoadjuvant CRT and may represent a therapeutic target in rectal cancer.

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Most cited references 32

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Effector memory T cells, early metastasis, and survival in colorectal cancer.

Franck Pagès, Anne Berger, Matthieu Camus … (2005)

The role of tumor-infiltrating immune cells in the early metastatic invasion of colorectal cancer is unknown. We studied pathological signs of early metastatic invasion (venous emboli and lymphatic and perineural invasion) in 959 specimens of resected colorectal cancer. The local immune response within the tumor was studied by flow cytometry (39 tumors), low-density-array real-time polymerase-chain-reaction assay (75 tumors), and tissue microarrays (415 tumors). Univariate analysis showed significant differences in disease-free and overall survival according to the presence or absence of histologic signs of early metastatic invasion (P<0.001). Multivariate Cox analysis showed that an early conventional pathological tumor-node-metastasis stage (P<0.001) and the absence of early metastatic invasion (P=0.04) were independently associated with increased survival. As compared with tumors with signs of early metastatic invasion, tumors without such signs had increased infiltrates of immune cells and increased levels of messenger RNA (mRNA) for products of type 1 helper effector T cells (CD8, T-BET [T-box transcription factor 21], interferon regulatory factor 1, interferon-gamma, granulysin, and granzyme B) but not increased levels of inflammatory mediators or immunosuppressive molecules. The two types of tumors had significant differences in the levels of expression of 65 combinations of T-cell markers, and hierarchical clustering showed that markers of T-cell migration, activation, and differentiation were increased in tumors without signs of early metastatic invasion. The latter type of tumors also had increased numbers of CD8+ T cells, ranging from early memory (CD45RO+CCR7-CD28+CD27+) to effector memory (CD45RO+CCR7-CD28-CD27-) T cells. The presence of high levels of infiltrating memory CD45RO+ cells, evaluated immunohistochemically, correlated with the absence of signs of early metastatic invasion, a less advanced pathological stage, and increased survival. Signs of an immune response within colorectal cancers are associated with the absence of pathological evidence of early metastatic invasion and with prolonged survival. Copyright 2005 Massachusetts Medical Society.

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Preoperative versus postoperative chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer: results of the German CAO/ARO/AIO-94 randomized phase III trial after a median follow-up of 11 years.

Rolf Sauer, Torsten Liersch, Susanne Merkel … (2012)

Preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has been established as standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer after first results of the CAO/ARO/AIO-94 [Working Group of Surgical Oncology/Working Group of Radiation Oncology/Working Group of Medical Oncology of the Germany Cancer Society] trial, published in 2004, showed an improved local control rate. However, after a median follow-up of 46 months, no survival benefit could be shown. Here, we report long-term results with a median follow-up of 134 months. A total of 823 patients with stage II to III rectal cancer were randomly assigned to preoperative CRT with fluorouracil (FU), total mesorectal excision surgery, and adjuvant FU chemotherapy, or the same schedule of CRT used postoperatively. The study was designed to have 80% power to detect a difference of 10% in 5-year overall survival as the primary end point. Secondary end points included the cumulative incidence of local and distant relapses and disease-free survival. Of 799 eligible patients, 404 were randomly assigned to preoperative and 395 to postoperative CRT. According to intention-to-treat analysis, overall survival at 10 years was 59.6% in the preoperative arm and 59.9% in the postoperative arm (P = .85). The 10-year cumulative incidence of local relapse was 7.1% and 10.1% in the pre- and postoperative arms, respectively (P = .048). No significant differences were detected for 10-year cumulative incidence of distant metastases (29.8% and 29.6%; P = .9) and disease-free survival. There is a persisting significant improvement of pre- versus postoperative CRT on local control; however, there was no effect on overall survival. Integrating more effective systemic treatment into the multimodal therapy has been adopted in the CAO/ARO/AIO-04 trial to possibly reduce distant metastases and improve survival.

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Regulatory T cells, tumour immunity and immunotherapy.

Weiping Zou (2006)

Tumours express a range of antigens, including self-antigens. Regulatory T cells are crucial for maintaining T-cell tolerance to self-antigens. Regulatory T cells are thought to dampen T-cell immunity to tumour-associated antigens and to be the main obstacle tempering successful immunotherapy and active vaccination. In this Review, I consider the nature and characteristics of regulatory T cells in the tumour microenvironment and their potential multiple suppressive mechanisms. Strategies for therapeutic targeting of regulatory T cells and the effect of regulatory T cells on current immunotherapeutic and vaccine regimens are discussed.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Br J Cancer

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Br. J. Cancer

Title: British Journal of Cancer

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group

ISSN (Print): 0007-0920

ISSN (Electronic): 1532-1827

Publication date (Print): 22 December 2015

Publication date (Electronic): 08 December 2015

Volume: 113

Issue: 12

Pages: 1677-1686

Affiliations

[1 ]St John of God Subiaco Hospital , PO Box 14, Subiaco, WA 6904, Australia

[2 ]School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia , M503, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia

[3 ]St John of God Pathology , PO Box 646, Wembley, WA 6913, Australia

[4 ]School of Surgery, University of Western Australia, M507, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia

[5 ]Institute for Health Research, University of Notre Dame , PO Box 1225, Fremantle, WA 6959, Australia

[6 ]Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital , Hospital Avenue, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia

Author notes

[* ]E-mail: melanie.mccoy@ 123456uwa.edu.au

Article

Publisher Item ID: bjc2015427

DOI: 10.1038/bjc.2015.427

PMC ID: 4702002

PubMed ID: 26645238

SO-VID: 5595b484-0f69-4687-8c3a-c23523520f23

License:

From twelve months after its original publication, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/