Single-cell profiling of immune cells associated with response to neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy in IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Authors

null

Zhenzhen Hui

Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China

Zhenzhen Hui , Jiali Zhang , Yulin Ren , Xiaoling Li , Wenwen Yu , Tao Wang , Liuqing Zheng , Shanshan Xiao , Yu-Long Chen , Feng Wei , Jian You , Xiubao Ren

Organizations

Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China, Tianjin Cancer Hospital Airport Hospital, Tianjin, China, Hangzhou Repugene Technology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China, Department of Biological Therapy, Tianjin Cancer Institute & Hospital, Tianjin, China

Research Funding

Other

Background: The combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) with chemotherapy (chemoimmunotherapy) in the neoadjuvant setting have achieved favorable clinical benefits in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but the underlying molecular mechanism has not been fully elucidated. Methods: To identify factors associated with the clinical outcome, single-cell RNA/TCR sequencing was performed using 10x Genomics on CD45+ immune cells isolated from tumor and multiple immune-relevant tissues and peripheral blood of four treatment-naïve and eight neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy treated IIIA NSCLC patients (responders versus non-responders). Bioinformatics analysis was used to screen immune cell factors associated with therapy response in single-cell sequencing profiles, and results were verified at protein level by flow cytometry, multiplex fluorescent immunohistochemistry (mIHC) and ELISA. Results: A total of 186,477 immune cells from 48 samples were acquired after quality-control filtering. The synergistic increase of B cells and CD4+ T cells are associated with positive therapeutic response of neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy. B cell class switching to IgG1 and IgG3 plays a critical role in anti-tumor immune response in tumor lesion, and this process is driven by increased IL-21 protein secreted by infiltrated T follicular helper (Tfh) cells after neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy. Several critical events lead to the positive clinical outcome during neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy, including the diminished activated TNFRSF4+ regulatory T cells (Tregs), increased LAMP3+ dendritic cells (DCs), high pretreatment peripheral blood T-cell diversity, and the expansion of intratumoral CD4+ T clones and peripheral CD8+ T clones. A validation cohort of 26 treatment-naïve and 30 neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy treated IIIA NSCLC patients verified these findings. Conclusions: Single-cell profiling of the immune response to neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy uncovered several critical factors of anti-tumor immune response and provided insight of potential novel predictive factors and therapeutic targets for improving the efficacy of treatment in NSCLC.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2022 ASCO Annual Meeting

Session Type

Publication Only

Session Title

Lung Cancer—Non-Small Cell Local-Regional/Small Cell/Other Thoracic Cancers

Track

Lung Cancer

Sub Track

Local-Regional Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

Citation

J Clin Oncol 40, 2022 (suppl 16; abstr e20584)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2022.40.16_suppl.e20584

Abstract #

e20584

Abstract Disclosures