Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and macrophages as a significant prognostic factor in biliary tract cancer

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 18; no. 1; p. e0280348
• Main Authors: Tanaka, Ryota, Eguchi, Shimpei, Kimura, Kenjiro, Ohira, Go, Tanaka, Shogo, Amano, Ryosuke, Tanaka, Hiroaki, Yashiro, Masakazu, Ohira, Masaichi, Kubo, Shoji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 24-01-2023; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Bile ducts; Biliary tract; Biliary tract diseases; Biliary Tract Neoplasms - pathology; Biliary Tract Neoplasms - surgery; Biology and Life Sciences; Breast cancer; Cancer; Cancer therapies; CD4 antigen; CD8 antigen; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes; Chemotherapy; Cholangiocarcinoma; Colorectal cancer; Foxp3 protein; Gallbladder cancer; Gastric cancer; Health aspects; Hepatectomy; Humans; Immune system; Immunotherapy; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating; Macrophages; Medical prognosis; Medical research; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metastases; Patients; Prognosis; Retrospective Studies; Surgery; Survival; Tumor Microenvironment; Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes; Tumors; Japan; United Kingdom > UK; Denmark
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280348

The impact of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) on the prognosis of biliary tract cancer (BTC) is not completely understood. Therefore, in our study, we investigated the effects of the various immune cells infiltration in tumor microenvironment (TME).
A total of 130 patients with BTC who underwent surgical treatment at our institution were enrolled in this study. We retrospectively evaluated TILs and TAMs with immunohistochemical staining.
With CD8-high, CD4-high, FOXP3-high, and CD68-low in TME as one factor, we calculated Immunoscore according to the number of factors. The high Immunoscore group showed significantly superior overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) than the low Immunoscore group (median OS, 60.8 vs. 26.4 months, p = 0.001; median RFS not reached vs. 17.2 months, p < 0.001). Also, high Immunoscore was an independent good prognostic factor for OS and RFS (hazards ratio 2.05 and 2.41 and p = 0.01 and p = 0.001, respectively).
High Immunoscore group had significantly superior OS and RFS and was an independent good prognostic factor for OS and RFS.