Toll-like Receptor 3 As a New Marker to Detect High Risk Early Stage Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2019 Oct 5

PMID 31582772

Citations 15

Authors

Francesca Bianchi

Massimo Milione

Patrizia Casalini

Giovanni Centonze

Valentino M Le Noci

Chiara Storti

Spyridon Alexiadis

Mauro Truini

Gabriella Sozzi

Ugo Pastorino

Andrea Balsari

Elda Tagliabue

Lucia Sfondrini

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Immune and epithelial cells express TLR3, a receptor deputed to respond to microbial signals activating the immune response. The prognostic value of TLR3 in cancer is debated and no data are currently available in NSCLC, for which therapeutic approaches that target the immune system are providing encouraging results. Dissecting the lung immune microenvironment could provide new prognostic markers, especially for early stage NSCLC for which surgery is the only treatment option. In this study we investigated the expression and the prognostic value of TLR3 on both tumor and immune compartments of stage I NSCLCs. In a cohort of 194 NSCLC stage I, TLR3 immunohistochemistry expression on tumor cells predicted a favorable outcome of early stage NSCLC, whereas on the immune cells infiltrating the tumor stroma, TLR3 expression associated with a poor overall survival. Patients with TLR3-positive immune infiltrating cells, but not tumor cells showed a worse prognosis compared with all other patients. The majority of TLR3-expressing immune cells resulted to be macrophages and TLR3 expression associates with PD-1 expression. TLR3 has an opposite prognostic significance when expressed on tumor or immune cells in early stage NCSCL. Analysis of TLR3 in tumor and immune cells can help in identifying high risk stage I patients for which adjuvant treatment would be beneficial.

Citing Articles

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Toll-like receptor 3: a double-edged sword.

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Analysis of Selected Toll-like Receptors in the Pathogenesis and Advancement of Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

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Cigarette smoke sustains immunosuppressive microenvironment inducing M2 macrophage polarization and viability in lung cancer settings.

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PMID: 38776331 PMC: 11111031. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303875.

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