Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma Not Otherwise Specified (PTCL-NOS) is the largest group of peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) with dismal prognosis. PTCL-NOS does not correspond to any of the specifically defined entities of T-cell lymphoma in the World Health Organization classification and is referred to as the “waste-basket” category that contains heterogeneous disease entities. Its heterogeneity represents a major obstacle to development of standardized therapeutic strategies, and therefore classification of this “waste-basket” diagnosis is necessary. Although previous studies tried to classify PTCL-NOS from the viewpoint of Cell-of-Origin (COO) of tumor cells by utilizing histopathologic methods or gene expression profiling, the prognostic impact of COO-based stratification still remains controversial. In addition, recent studies revealed the prognostic importance and the therapeutic potential of tumor-microenvironment in various types of cancers. These situations prompted us to investigate microenvironment profile of PTCL-NOS.The aim of this study is to elucidate the microenvironment signatures of PTCL-NOS by gene expression profiling, and to establish a new stratification model. For this purpose, the expression levels of 770 genes related to phenotype and function of tumor T-cells and microenvironment immune cells (B-cells, macrophages (Mø), dendritic cells and granulocytes) were analyzed by employing nCounter system, digital RNA counting technology with high reproducibility for the measurement of even lowly-expressed genes from rare microenvironment components. Sixty-eight patients who were diagnosed as PTCL-NOS between 1993 and 2011 were included in this study. These patients were equally treated by anthracycline-based conventional chemotherapies,and the median survival period was 2.8 years (range, 0.2-11.0 years), which was comparable to historical controls.To explore the classifier genes for PTCL-NOS, principal component analysis was performed and 2 distinct clusters of microenvironment-derived genes, B-cell (CD19, CD20, PAX5) and Mø (CD68, CD163) related genes, were identified (Figure 1). By hierarchical clustering analysis based on the expression levels of these genes, 68 PTCL-NOS patients were classified into three groups as B-cell-rich, Mø-rich and unclassified type (Figure 2). We visually confirmed that CD20+ B-cells and CD163+ Mø were enriched in the tumor tissues of B-cell-rich and Mø-rich type, respectively utilizing multiplexed fluorescent immunostaining (Perkin-Elmer, Mantra quantitative pathology workstation). More importantly, this microenvironment-based classification was significantly associated with prognosis: B-cell-rich type patients had better overall survival compared with Mø-rich patients (2-year overall survival: B-cell-rich type, 77.7%; Mø-rich type, 39.3%; others, 55.5%; p = 0.02) (Figure 3). We also validated the impact of these microenvironment signatures on the prognosis by analyzing published microarray datasets of 123 PTCL-NOS patients (GSE58445). Thus, B-cell-rich type patients were expected to respond to conventional chemotherapies and classified as favorable subtype.We further investigated potential therapeutic targets for Mø-rich patients who were classified as unfavorable subtype, and found that gene expression levels of immune checkpoint molecules, such as PD-L1, PD-L2, TIM-3, LAG-3, IDO-1, were up-regulated in the Mø-rich type compared with the others (PD-L1, p < 0.01; PD-L2, p < 0.01; TIM-3, p < 0.01; LAG-3, p = 0.01; IDO-1, p < 0.01). Imaging analysis of Mø-rich type tissues with Mantra system revealed that PD-L1 was highly and exclusively expressed on the CD163+ Mø, suggesting that microenvironment Mø might negatively regulate tumor immunity via expression of immune-checkpoint molecules and that Mø-rich type patients were expected to respond to immunotherapeutic agents including immune checkpoint inhibitors.In conclusion, our findings collectively suggest that tumor microenvironment signature has significant prognostic impact, and novel microenvironment-based stratification model will contribute to the development of optimal therapeutic strategies for PTCL-NOS patients. [Display omitted] DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
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