We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Unraveling tumour microenvironment heterogeneity in nasopharyngeal carcinoma identifies biologically distinct immune subtypes predicting prognosis and immunotherapy responses.
- Authors
Chen, Yu-Pei; Lv, Jia-Wei; Mao, Yan-Ping; Li, Xiao-Min; Li, Jun-Yan; Wang, Ya-Qin; Xu, Cheng; Li, Ying-Qin; He, Qing-Mei; Yang, Xiao-Jing; Lei, Yuan; Shen, Jia-Yi; Tang, Ling-Long; Chen, Lei; Zhou, Guan-Qun; Li, Wen-Fei; Du, Xiao-Jing; Guo, Rui; Liu, Xu; Zhang, Yuan
- Abstract
Currently, there is no strong evidence of the well-established biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Here, we aimed to reveal the heterogeneity of tumour microenvironment (TME) through virtual microdissection of gene expression profiles. An immune-enriched subtype was identified in 38% (43/113) of patients, which was characterized by significant enrichment of immune cells or immune responses. The remaining patients were therefore classified as a non-Immune Subtype (non-IS), which exhibited highly proliferative features. Then we identified a tumour immune evasion state within the immune-enriched subtype (18/43, 42%), in which high expression of exclusion- and dysfunction-related signatures was observed. These subgroups were designated the Evaded and Active Immune Subtype (E-IS and A-IS), respectively. We further demonstrated that A-IS predicted favourable survival and improved ICI response as compared to E-IS and non-IS. In summary, this study introduces the novel immune subtypes and demonstrates their feasibility in tailoring immunotherapeutic strategies.
- Subjects
NASOPHARYNX cancer; GENE expression profiling; IMMUNE checkpoint inhibitors; IMMUNOTHERAPY; PROGNOSIS; NASOPHARYNX tumors
- Publication
Molecular Cancer, 2021, Vol 20, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
1476-4598
- Publication type
Letter
- DOI
10.1186/s12943-020-01292-5