AUTHOR=Kwiecień Iwona , Rutkowska Elżbieta , Sokołowski Rafał , Bednarek Joanna , Raniszewska Agata , Jahnz-Różyk Karina , Rzepecki Piotr , Domagała-Kulawik Joanna TITLE=Effector Memory T Cells and CD45RO+ Regulatory T Cells in Metastatic vs. Non-Metastatic Lymph Nodes in Lung Cancer Patients JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.864497 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2022.864497 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

Lymphocytes play a leading role in regulation of the immune system in lung cancer patients. The recognition of T cells profile may help in prediction of effectiveness of anticancer immunotherapy. The aim of the study was to determine the dominant subpopulation of CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes in metastatic and non-metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) of lung cancer patients. LNs aspirates were obtained during EBUS/TBNA procedure and cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. We showed a higher percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ effector memory T cells in the metastatic than in the non-metastatic LNs (28.6 vs. 15.3% and 28.6 vs. 14.0%, p< 0.05). The proportion of CD45RO+ T regulatory cells (CD45RO+ Tregs) was higher in the metastatic LNs than in the non-metastatic ones (65.6 vs. 31%, p< 0.05). We reported the significant differences in T cell subsets depending on the lung cancer metastatic process. We observed that the effector memory T cells were predominant subpopulations in metastatic LNs. Lymphocyte profile in LNs is easy to evaluate by flow cytometry of EBUS/TBNA samples and may reflect the immune status in lung cancer.