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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Pathology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1435620

Maturity and Density of Tertiary Lymphoid Structures Associate with Tumor Metastasis and Chemotherapy Response

Provisionally accepted
Sutian Jiang Sutian Jiang Xuhui Liao Xuhui Liao *Xuzhong Ding Xuzhong Ding *
  • Lishui City People's Hospital, Lishui, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Tertiary Lymphoid Structures (TLSs) are abnormal clusters of immune cells that form in tissues not normally associated with the immune system, usually in cases of longlasting inflammation, like cancer. TLSs have been suggested as a potential prognostic indicator in various cancer types.We retrospectively enrolled 223 gastric cancer (GC) patients who had surgical resections in this study. We utilized hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining to detect the presence, abundance, and maturity of TLSs. In serial sections, we used immunohistochemistry to examine the cellular composition of TLSs. The pathological review identified TLSs in 95.1% of the tumors, lymphoid aggregates in 79.8%, primary follicles in 45.7%, and lymphoid aggregates in 95.1% of the cases.Based on Kaplan-Meier curves, the maturation and abundance of TLSs contributed to longer disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). In addition, the density of TLSs was strongly associated with the occurrence of tumor metastases and the response to adjuvant chemotherapy.We validated the prognostic value of TLSs in GC patients in both independent cohorts, and the maturity and density of TLS correlated with tumor metastasis. In addition, TLS may reflect sustained antitumor potency, which has important implications for adjuvant chemotherapy.

    Keywords: TLSs, outcomes, distant metastasis, Adjuvant chemotherapy, gastric cancer

    Received: 20 May 2024; Accepted: 30 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jiang, Liao and Ding. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xuhui Liao, Lishui City People's Hospital, Lishui, China
    Xuzhong Ding, Lishui City People's Hospital, Lishui, China

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