Clinical implication of naive and memory T cells in locally advanced cervical cancer: A proxy for tumor biology and short-term response prediction

Background: This study was designed to investigate the feasibility of tumor-infiltrating immune cells with different phenotypic characteristics for predicting short-term clinical responses in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC). Methods: Thirty-four patients who received concurrent chemoradiotherapy and twenty-one patients who merely underwent radiotherapy were enrolled in this study. We retrospectively analyzed the T cell markers (i.e., CD3, CD4, CD8), memory markers (i.e., CD45, CCR7), and differentiation markers (i.e., CD27) in the peripheral blood and tumor tissues of patients with LACC before treatment based on flow cytometry. We also analyzed the relationship of T cell subsets between peripheral blood and tumor tissues, and their correlation with complete response or partial response. Results: The percentage of central memory CD8+ TCM (CD8+ CD45RA− CD27+ CCR7+ ) cells in LACC patients was significantly lower than that of the control group. The percentage of CD8+ TN in the peripheral blood of LACC patients was significantly higher than that of tumor tissues. CD8+ TEM in the peripheral blood was significantly lower than that of tumor tissues. The percentage of CD8+ TN and CD8+ TCM in human papillomavirus (HPV) positive samples was significantly higher than that of HPV-negative samples. Similarly, the percentage of CD8+ TCM in tumor tissues was significantly higher in cancer tissue samples with lymph nodes compared with those without. Conclusion: A higher proportion of CD4+ TCM and a lower proportion of CD8+ TN in the tumor microenvironment of LACC may contribute to the therapy response prediction.