Effect of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy on Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Resectable Gastric Cancer: Analysis from a Western Academic Center

Overview

Journal Cancers (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Oncology

Date 2024 Apr 13

PMID 38611107

Authors

Elliott J Yee

Danielle Gilbert

Jeffrey Kaplan

Sachin Wani

Sunnie S Kim

Martin D McCarter

Camille L Stewart

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are an emerging biomarker predictive of response to immunotherapy across a spectrum of solid organ malignancies. The characterization of TILs in gastric cancer (GC) treated with contemporary, multiagent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is understudied. In this retrospective investigation, we analyzed the degree of infiltration, phenotype, and spatial distribution of TILs via immunohistochemistry within resected GC specimens treated with or without NAC at a Western center. We hypothesized that NAC executes immunostimulatory roles, as evidenced by an increased number of anti-tumor TILs in the tumor microenvironment. We found significantly elevated levels of conventional and memory CD8+ T cells, as well as total TILs (CD4+, CD8+, T, B cells), within chemotherapy-treated tumors compared with chemotherapy-naïve specimens. We also revealed important associations between survival and pathologic responses with enhanced TIL infiltration. Taken together, our findings advocate for an immunostimulatory role of chemotherapy and underscore the potential synergistic effect of combining chemotherapy with immunotherapy in resectable gastric cancer.

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