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. 2023 Feb 6;13(1):2077.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-29260-1.

Tumor-infiltrating T cells as a risk factor for lymph node metastasis in patients with submucosal colorectal cancer

Masatoshi Kitakaze  1 , Shiki Fujino  2   3 , Norikatsu Miyoshi  1 , Yuki Sekido  1 , Tsuyoshi Hata  1 , Takayuki Ogino  1 , Hidekazu Takahashi  1 , Mamoru Uemura  1 , Tsunekazu Mizushima  1   4 , Yuichiro Doki  1 , Hidetoshi Eguchi  1
Affiliations

Tumor-infiltrating T cells as a risk factor for lymph node metastasis in patients with submucosal colorectal cancer

Masatoshi Kitakaze et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Approximately 10% of patients with colorectal cancer with submucosal invasion have lymph node metastasis. Pathological risk factors for lymph node metastasis have varying sensitivities and specificities. To predict the risk of lymph node metastasis, the identification of new risk factors is vital. Tumor-infiltrating T cells have been reported to improve the prognosis of many solid tumors. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between lymph node metastasis and tumor-infiltrating T cells in patients with colorectal cancer with submucosal invasion. We examined CD8+ tumor-infiltrating T cells level as a risk factor for lymph node metastasis in patients with colorectal cancer with submucosal invasion. Using immunohistochemical staining, we identified CD8 + T cells in surgically resected specimens from 98 patients with SM-CRC. We showed that low CD8+ tumor-infiltrating T cells levels are positively correlated with lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, by combining the number of CD8+ tumor-infiltrating T cell and the number of CD103+ tumor-infiltrating T cells, the results showed a high positive predictive value for lymph node metastasis in cases with low numbers of both types of tumor-infiltrating T cells and a high negative predictive value in cases with high numbers of both types of tumor-infiltrating T cells.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scheme of the study. A total of 180 patients with surgically treated SM-CRC were enrolled in this study; 15 patients treated with local excision that lacked pathological lymph node metastasis data and 67 patients without available specimen of the tumor area were excluded.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) The number of CD8+ TILs was counted at the invasive margin. The dotted line indicates the invasive margin. (b) Immunohistochemical staining for CD8 at the invasive margins of resected CRC tissue (representative images of a highly invasive tumor and low invasive tumor).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) The number of CD8+ TILs and lymph node metastases from SM-CRC. (b) The number of CD8+ TILs and presence of lymph node metastasis from SM-CRC (P = 0.042).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the relationship between the specificity and the sensitivity of the number of CD8+ TILs for lymph node metastasis.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Immunohistochemical staining for CD103 TILs at invasive margins of resected CRC tissue (left: high invasion; right: low invasion). (b) The number of CD103+ TILs and presence of lymph node metastasis from SM-CRC (P = 0.134). (c) The number of CD103+ TILs and lymph node metastases from SM-CRC.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the relationship between the specificity and the sensitivity of the number of CD103+ TILs for lymph node metastasis.
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