Clinical characterization and immunosuppressive regulation of CD161 (KLRB1) in glioma through 916 samples

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma is a paradigm of cancer‐associated immunosuppression, limiting the effects of immunotherapeutic strategies. Thus, identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying immune surveillance evasion is critical. Recently, the preferential expression of inhibitory natural killer (NK) cell receptor CD161 on glioma‐infiltrating cytotoxic T cells was identified. Focusing on the molecularly annotated, large‐scale clinical samples from different ethnic origins, the data presented here provide evidence of this immune modulator's essential roles in brain tumor biology. METHODS: Retrospective RNA‐seq data analysis was conducted in a cohort of 313 patients with glioma in the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) database and 603 patients in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. In addition, single‐cell sequencing data from seven surgical specimens of glioblastoma patients and a model in which patient‐derived glioma stem cells were cocultured with peripheral lymphocytes, were used to analyze the molecular evolution process during gliomagenesis. RESULTS: CD161 was enriched in high‐grade gliomas and isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)‐wildtype glioma. CD161 acted as a potential biomarker for the mesenchymal subtype of glioma and an independent prognostic factor for the overall survival (OS) of patients with glioma. In addition, CD161 played an essential role in inhibiting the cytotoxicity of T cells in glioma patients. During the process of gliomagenesis, the expression of CD161 on different lymphocytes dynamically evolved. CONCLUSION: The expression of CD161 was closely related to the pathology and molecular pathology of glioma. Meanwhile, CD161 promoted the progression and evolution of gliomas through its unique effect on T cell dysfunction. Thus, CD161 is a promising novel target for immunotherapeutic strategies in glioma treatment.