Zeitschrift für onkologische Forschung und Behandlung

Abstrakt

The Predictive Role of Intra-Tumoral CD8⁺T Cells with Stem Cell-Like Properties in Response to and Efficacy of Anti-PD-1/L1 Treatment

Xia Fang, Rongjuan Tang, Rongzhang Chen, Zhibing Luo, Xingya Xu, Shaoyong Gao, Ling Zheng

A Checkpoint Inhibitor-Based Immunotherapy (ICIs) has demonstrated outstanding efficacy in many solid tumors. However, some treated patients with positive expression of PD-L1 do not respond, and even develop hyper progression, and some patients with negative expression of PD-L1 can also benefit from immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy. There is growing need to identify biomarkers that will improve the selection of patients who will best respond to therapy. Intra-tumoral effective T cells are critical for anti-tumor effect, and some subpopulation of it have been verified as potential biomarkers for ICIs. In our previous study, a subset of intra-tumoral CD8⁺ T cells with stem-like properties has been identified as sensitive biomarker for predicting the response to and efficacy of PD-1/L1 blockade treatment with or without chemotherapy. In the current comment, the role and challenges of this cell subpopulation in anti-PD-1/L1 immunotherapy will be discussed.