Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee: Pirogov University.
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

PD1 expression in immune cells within the tumor microenvironment of patients with non-small cell and small cell lung cancer

Kalinchuk AYu, Tsarenkova EA, Loos DM, Mokh AA, Rodionov EO, Miller SV, Grigoryeva ES, Tashireva LA
About authors

The Laboratory of Molecular Therapy of Cancer, Cancer Research Institute, Tomsk National Research Medical Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia

Correspondence should be addressed: Evgenia S. Grigoryeva
Evgenia S. Grigoryeva pereulok Kooperativnyj, 5, Tomsk, Russia; moc.liamg@se.aveyrogirg

About paper

Funding: the study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant № 20-75-10033-П).

Author contribution: Kalinchuk AYu — literature search, obtaining and statistically processing the results, writing the article; Tsarenkova EA — obtaining and analyzing data; Loos DM — obtaining and analyzing data; Mokh AA — patients’ curation; Rodionov EO — patients’ curation; Miller SV — data collection; ES Grigoryeva — editing the article; Tashireva LA — study planning and supervision, analysis, and interpretation of results, writing the article.

Compliance with ethical standards: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Tomsk National Research Medical Center Oncology Research Institute (protocol № 7, 25 August 2020; protocol № 18, 25 August 2023), conducted in accordance with federal laws of the Russian Federation and the 1964 Helsinki Declaration with all subsequent additions and amendments regulating scientific research on biomaterial obtained from humans. All participants signed informed voluntary consent to participate in the study.

Received: 2025-03-04 Accepted: 2025-03-17 Published online: 2025-03-24
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The clinical significance of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) expression in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of lung cancer, particularly in the context of immunotherapy, remains poorly understood. This study aimed to evaluate PD-1 expression in tumor-infiltrating immune cells and its association with clinical outcomes in lung cancer patients. In a study of 20 patients (17 men and three women, average age 56 ± 6.9 years) with lung cancer, four key immune cell populations involved in the immunotherapy response were analyzed using multiplexed in situ immunofluorescence. The focus was on PD-1 expression patterns and their correlation with progression-free survival (PFS). Our findings revealed that PD-1 expression was predominantly observed on CD8+ lymphocytes, albeit at low levels (~5%), suggesting a state of T-cell exhaustion. Notably, PD-1-expressing immune cells were rare in both non-small-cell and small-cell lung cancer microenvironments, indicating that most immune cells remain functionally active. This deficit of PD-1+ cells may explain the limited therapeutic efficacy of antiPD-1 antibodies. Furthermore, we identified CD20+ B-cell infiltration as an independent predictor of poorer PFS (HR = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.02–0.65, p = 0.0454), highlighting a previously underappreciated role of B cells in lung cancer progression. Additionally, the presence of distant metastases (stage M1), a high proportion of PD-1+CD163+ macrophages, and a low proportion of PD-1+FoxP3+ lymphocytes were associated with shorter PFS, underscoring the complex interplay between immunosuppressive and immunostimulatory cell populations in the TME. These findings suggest that PD-1-expressing immune subsets, particularly cytotoxic lymphocytes and regulatory T cells, may serve as prognostic markers and potential therapeutic targets.

Keywords: lung cancer, PD1 expression, tumor microenvironment, immune checkpoint

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