Pantaleo, MA;
Tarantino, G;
Agostinelli, C;
Urbini, M;
Nannini, M;
Saponara, M;
Castelli, C;
... Astolfi, A; + view all
(2019)
Immune microenvironment profiling of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) shows gene expression patterns associated to immune checkpoint inhibitors response.
OncoImmunology
10.1080/2162402X.2019.1617588.
Preview |
Text
Pantaleo.pdf - Published Version Download (5MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Few studies were conducted investigating the immunological profiles in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Adaptive and innate immune cells are present in the tumor microenvironment, indicating GIST as inflamed tumors. In addition, murine models suggested a potential interaction between immune components and imatinib. In this retrospective study, the GIST immunological profile was investigated through in silico analysis and immunohistochemistry (IHC), exploring the basis for immunotherapy approaches. Gene expression profiles (GEP) from 31 KIT/PDGFRA-mutant GIST were analyzed to evaluate the tumor microenvironment and immunotherapy predictive signatures such as the expanded IFN-γ-induced immune signature (EIIS) and the T-cell-inflamed signature (TIS). GEP and IHC supported the presence of immune infiltrate in GIST, with dominance of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and M2 macrophages showing a remarkable similarity with melanoma microenvironment. The EIIS genes were expressed in most of GIST samples and positively correlated with PD-L1 abundance (p < .0001). Co-expression was also found between PD-L1 and CD8A (p < .0001) or CD8B (p = .0003). Moreover, the median TIS score for GIST was between the 65th and 70th percentile of the Cancer Genome Atlas dataset, in the same range of tumors responding to anti-PD-1/PD-L1. Analysis of the Gene Expression Omnibus database GIST samples pre- and post-treatment confirmed that imatinib downregulates PD-L1 and IRF1 expression through the inhibition of KIT and PDGFRA, thus contributing to counteract the suppressed adaptive immune response against GIST. The presence of a rich immune infiltrate in GIST along with the presence of TIS and EIIS suggests that GIST may benefit from immunotherapy along with tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Immune microenvironment profiling of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) shows gene expression patterns associated to immune checkpoint inhibitors response |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/2162402X.2019.1617588 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/2162402X.2019.1617588 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. |
| Keywords: | Gastrointestinal stromal tumor, GIST, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, TIL, IFN-γ signaling pathway, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, M2 macrophages, PD-L1 expression, immunotherapy, checkpoint inhibitor, imatinib |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Cancer Institute UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Cancer Institute > Research Department of Pathology |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10077215 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
