Analysis of Immune Landscape Reveals Prognostic Significance of Cytotoxic CD4(+) T Cells in the Central Region of pMMR CRC

BACKGROUND: Mismatch repair proficient colorectal cancer (pMMR CRC) lacks effective treatments and has a poor prognosis, which can be attributed to the complexity of tumor microenvironment. The coordinated function of immune cells is vital to anti-tumor immunity. However, the spatial characteristics of immune cells in the pMMR CRC immune microenvironment and their relationship with clinical prognosis are not fully understood. Meanwhile, the immune modulatory effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT), which is the first-line treatment of pMMR CRC, needs further investigation. Therefore, this study aims to explore the spatial dynamics of immune cells and its prognostic value in pMMR CRC. METHODS: We analyzed the various immune cells in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissues which were collected from 77 patients with stage II/III of pMMR CRC, including 39 non-NCT treated and 38 NCT treated patients. We used the optimized multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) to identify and quantify the density, type and location of immune cells in pMMR CRC. Multivariate survival analysis was performed to assess the relationship of immune profiles and clinical prognosis of pMMR CRC patients. RESULTS: The densities of most T cell subsets, B cells and macrophages were higher in the central region of the pMMR CRC than in the invasion margin. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), especially the infiltration of CD4(+) GzmB(+) T cells in the central region of the tumor was identified to be positively correlated with the prognosis of the patients. Multivariate analysis confirmed that CD4(+) GzmB(+) T cells population was an independent predictor of disease-free survival (DFS) in non-NCT group. Meanwhile, NCT enhanced the infiltration of CD4(+) GzmB(+) T cells in the central region of the pMMR CRC, which was also identified as an independent protective factor of overall survival (OS) and DFS in NCT group. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that the level of CD4(+) GzmB(+) T cells located in the center of tumor could provide great prognostic value for pMMR CRC patients. And the application of neoadjuvant chemotherapy further improves the infiltration of CD4(+) GzmB(+) T cells in the central compartment. Further studies into the application of CD4(+) GzmB(+) T cells in tumor immunotherapy are needed.