AB033. Impact of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, tertiary lymphoid structures, and blood inflammatory markers in thymic cancer patients undergoing surgery
Abstract

AB033. Impact of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, tertiary lymphoid structures, and blood inflammatory markers in thymic cancer patients undergoing surgery

Tomohiro Habu1,2, Hiromasa Yamamoto2,3, Toshiya Fujiwara3, Shinsuke Saisho3, Yuji Hirami3, Yoshinobu Shikatani3, Tsuyoshi Ueno3, Mototsugu Watanabe3, Tomoaki Otsuka3, Shinji Otani3, Hidetoshi Inokawa3, Makio Hayama3, Masaomi Yamane3, Eiji Yamada3, Osamu Kawamata3, Eisuke Matsuda3, Tatsuro Hayashi2, Kota Araki3, Hiroyuki Tao3, Shinichi Toyooka1,3

1Department of General Thoracic Surgery and Breast and Endocrinological Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan; 2Center for Clinical Genetics and Genomic Medicine, Shimane University Hospital, Shimane, Japan; 3Okayama University Thoracic Surgery Study Group (OUTSSG), Okayama, Japan

Correspondence to: Hiromasa Yamamoto, MD, PhD. Center for Clinical Genetics and Genomic Medicine, Shimane University Hospital, 89-1 Enya-cho, Izumo, Shimane 693-8501, Japan; Okayama University Thoracic Surgery Study Group (OUTSSG), Okayama, Japan. Email: h.yamamoto@med.shimane-u.ac.jp.

Background: Thymic carcinoma is one of the cancers with a poor prognosis. However, due to its rarity, detailed investigations for biomarkers that determine its prognosis have not yet been developed. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) in tumor tissues constitute the tumor microenvironment, and their abundance has been reported to be associated with prognosis in various cancers. Additionally, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), prognostic nutritional index (PNI), and Glasgow prognostic score (GPS) reflect systemic inflammation and nutritional status, and have recently gained attention as prognostic factors in many solid tumors, but their significance in thymic carcinoma remains unclear.

Methods: This study included 104 patients who underwent surgery for thymic carcinoma at 18 institutions, including Okayama University Hospital, between January 2010 and December 2021. Immunohistochemical staining was performed on surgical specimens using anti-CD3/CD8/CD20 antibodies to evaluate TILs and TLSs. Preoperative NLR (pre-NLR) and PNI were measured preoperatively, and postoperative NLR (post-NLR) and GPS were evaluated 7 days postoperatively in cases in which they were measured.

Results: The median was defined as the cutoff value in all analyses. As for TILs, a significantly better overall survival (OS) was observed in the CD8-high group (P=0.03). A significantly better OS was also observed in the TLS-high group (P=0.03). Among peripheral blood inflammatory markers, the group with score 0 in GPS showed a significantly better OS compared to the others (P=0.007).

Conclusions: TILs, TLSs, and GPS were significantly associated with OS and might serve as prognostic indicators in patients undergoing surgery for thymic carcinoma.

Keywords: Thymic cancer; tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs); tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs); Glasgow prognostic score (GPS)

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://med.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/med-24-ab033/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013). The study was approved by the Ethics Committees of Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Okayama University Hospital (approval No. K2301-037), followed by the approval of each participating medical institution. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/med-24-ab033
Cite this abstract as: Habu T, Yamamoto H, Fujiwara T, Saisho S, Hirami Y, Shikatani Y, Ueno T, Watanabe M, Otsuka T, Otani S, Inokawa H, Hayama M, Yamane M, Yamada E, Kawamata O, Matsuda E, Hayashi T, Araki K, Tao H, Toyooka S. AB033. Impact of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, tertiary lymphoid structures, and blood inflammatory markers in thymic cancer patients undergoing surgery. Mediastinum 2024;8:AB033.

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