Expression of immune checkpoints and T cell exhaustion markers in early and advanced stages of colorectal cancer

<p>Despite recent advances in colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment, a large proportion of patients show limited responses to therapies, especially in advanced stages. There is an urgent need to identify prognostic biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets in advanced stages, aiming to improve the eff...

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Main Author: Reem Saleh (3513056) (author)
Other Authors: Rowaida Z. Taha (8854754) (author), Salman M. Toor (8854751) (author), Varun Sasidharan Nair (5396393) (author), Khaled Murshed (8309781) (author), Mahwish Khawar (9621038) (author), Mahmood Al-Dhaheri (9621035) (author), Mahir Abdulla Petkar (14150211) (author), Mohamed Abu Nada (8309784) (author), Eyad Elkord (5396390) (author)
Published: 2020
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Summary:<p>Despite recent advances in colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment, a large proportion of patients show limited responses to therapies, especially in advanced stages. There is an urgent need to identify prognostic biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets in advanced stages, aiming to improve the efficacy of current treatments. We aimed to determine prognostic biomarkers in tumor tissue and circulation of CRC patients, with a special focus on T cell exhaustion markers. We found that mRNA levels of PD-1, TIM-3, CTLA-4, TIGIT, CD160, CD244, KLRG1, TOX2, TOX3, Ki-67, and PRDM1 were elevated in CRC tumor tissues. We also investigated differences in gene expression between early and advanced disease stages. We found that TOX and potentially TIM-3, CTLA-4, VISTA, TIGIT, KLRG1, TOX2, SIRT1, Ki-67, and Helios mRNA levels in tumor tissue were elevated in advanced disease stages, suggesting their potential roles in CRC progression. In contrast, PD-1 and CD160 levels in tumor tissue were downregulated in advanced stages. In the circulation of CRC patients, mRNA levels of PD-1, VISTA and LAG-3 were higher than those of healthy individuals. Moreover, in circulation, PD-1, CTLA-4 and TIGIT mRNA levels were reduced in advanced stages. Interestingly, levels of PD-1 in both tumor tissue and circulation were reduced in advanced stages, suggesting that targeting PD-1 in patients with advanced stages could be less effective. Altogether, these findings suggest some potential T cell exhaustion markers that could be utilized as prognostic biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets for CRC. However, further investigations and validations in larger cohorts are required to confirm these findings.</p><h2>Other Information</h2> <p> Published in: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy<br> License: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00262-020-02593-w" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00262-020-02593-w</a></p>