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Transcriptional Landscape of Human Tissue Lymphocytes Unveils Uniqueness of Tumor-Infiltrating T Regulatory Cells

  • Marco De Simone
  • , Alberto Arrigoni
  • , Grazisa Rossetti
  • , Paola Gruarin
  • , Valeria Ranzani
  • , Claudia Politano
  • , Raoul J.P. Bonnal
  • , Elena Provasi
  • , Maria Lucia Sarnicola
  • , Ilaria Panzeri
  • , Monica Moro
  • , Mariacristina Crosti
  • , Saveria Mazzara
  • , Valentina Vaira
  • , Silvano Bosari
  • , Alessandro Palleschi
  • , Luigi Santambrogio
  • , Giorgio Bovo
  • , Nicola Zucchini
  • , Mauro Totis
  • Luca Gianotti, Giancarlo Cesana, Roberto A. Perego, Nirvana Maroni, Andrea Pisani Ceretti, Enrico Opocher, Raffaele De Francesco, Jens Geginat, Hendrik G. Stunnenberg, Sergio Abrignani, Massimiliano Pagani

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

547 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Tumor-infiltrating regulatory T lymphocytes (Treg) can suppress effector T cells specific for tumor antigens. Deeper molecular definitions of tumor-infiltrating-lymphocytes could thus offer therapeutic opportunities. Transcriptomes of T helper 1 (Th1), Th17, and Treg cells infiltrating colorectal or non-small-cell lung cancers were compared to transcriptomes of the same subsets from normal tissues and validated at the single-cell level. We found that tumor-infiltrating Treg cells were highly suppressive, upregulated several immune-checkpoints, and expressed on the cell surfaces specific signature molecules such as interleukin-1 receptor 2 (IL1R2), programmed death (PD)-1 Ligand1, PD-1 Ligand2, and CCR8 chemokine, which were not previously described on Treg cells. Remarkably, high expression in whole-tumor samples of Treg cell signature genes, such as LAYN, MAGEH1, or CCR8, correlated with poor prognosis. Our findings provide insights into the molecular identity and functions of human tumor-infiltrating Treg cells and define potential targets for tumor immunotherapy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1135-1147
Number of pages13
JournalImmunity
Volume45
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Nov 2016
Externally publishedYes

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