Functionally impaired follicular helper T cells induce regulatory B cells and CD14+ human leukocyte antigen ‐DR− cell differentiation in non‐small cell lung cancer

Non ‐small cell lung cancer patients have high levels of Tfh cells, especially Tfh2 and Tfh17 subtypes, but Tfh cells from NSCLC patients have impaired function of IL‐21 production and Tfh cells induced the differentiation of regulatory B cells and CD14+ HLA ‐DR− cells. Non ‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents one of the most common and aggressive cancers worldwide, as it typically displays irreversible progression and poor prognosis. Interaction between programmed death 1 (PD‐1) and its ligand, PD‐L1, plays important roles in tumor immunology. Follicular h elper T (Tfh) cells have characteristically high PD‐1 expression; thus, in the present study, we investigated the role of circulating Tfh cells and their correlation with disease‐free survival after tumor resection in NSCLC. We found significantly higher number of Tfh cells but lower serum inter leukin (IL)‐21 levels in NSCLC patients, especially in those with advanced stage (III and IV), indicating that the function of Tfh cells to produce IL‐21 was impaired. Further analysis showed that the increase in Tfh cells was attributable to an expansion of the PD‐1+‐Tfh2 and PD‐1+‐Tfh17 subtypes. Functional analysis showed that Tfh cells from NSCLC patients induced the differentiation of regulatory B cells and CD14+ human leukocyte antigen (HLA) ‐DR− cells. Interestingly, the number of Tfh1 subtypes in NSCLC patients was negatively correlated with disease ‐free survival after tumor resect...
Source: Cancer Science - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research