Comprehensive Assessment of Selected Immune Cell Subpopulations Changes in Chemotherapy-Naïve Germ Cell Tumor Patients

Katarina Kalavska; Zuzana Sestakova; Andrea Mlcakova; Paulina Gronesova; Viera Miskovska; Katarina Rejlekova; Daniela Svetlovska; Zuzana Sycova-Mila; Jana Obertova; Patrik Palacka; Jozef Mardiak; Miroslav Chovanec; Michal Chovanec; Michal Mego

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.858797

Comprehensive Assessment of Selected Immune Cell Subpopulations Changes in Chemotherapy-Naïve Germ Cell Tumor Patients

Front Oncol. 2022 Mar 11:12:858797. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.858797. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Katarina Kalavska^{1

2}, Zuzana Sestakova^{3

4}, Andrea Mlcakova⁵, Paulina Gronesova⁶, Viera Miskovska⁷, Katarina Rejlekova^{8

9}, Daniela Svetlovska¹, Zuzana Sycova-Mila⁹, Jana Obertova^{8

9}, Patrik Palacka^{8

9}, Jozef Mardiak^{8

9}, Miroslav Chovanec³, Michal Chovanec^{8

9}, Michal Mego^{1

3

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Translational Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, National Cancer Institute, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
² Department of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Research Institute, Biomedical Research Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
³ Department of Genetics, Cancer Research Institute, Biomedical Research Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁴ Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Institute of Children's Diseases, Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁵ Department of Hematology, National Cancer Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁶ Department of Tumor Immunology, Cancer Research Institute, Biomedical Research Center, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁷ 1stDepartment of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, St. Elisabeth Cancer Institute, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁸ 2ndDepartment of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, National Cancer Institute, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
⁹ Department of Oncology, National Cancer Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia.

Abstract

The pattern of immune cell distribution in testicular germ cell tumors (GCT) significantly differs from the immune environment in normal testicular tissues. The present study aimed to evaluate the role of different leukocyte subpopulation in GCTs. A cohort of 84 chemotherapy-naïve GCT patients was analyzed. Immunophenotyping of peripheral blood leukocyte subpopulations was carried out by flow cytometry. In addition, the data assessing the immunophenotypes and the baseline clinicopathological characteristics of the included subjects were statistically evaluated. Their prognostic value for the assessment of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was estimated. The percentage of different innate/adaptive immune cell subpopulations was significantly associated with poor risk-related clinical features, including the number of metastatic sites, presence of retroperitoneal, mediastinal, lung, brain and non-pulmonary visceral metastases as well as with the S-stage and International Germ Cell Consensus Classification Group (IGCCCG) risk groups. In univariate analysis, the percentages of neutrophils, eosinophils, dendritic cells type 2, lymphocytes and T cytotoxic cells were significantly associated with PFS, while the neutrophil, non-classical monocyte and lymphocyte percentage were associated with OS. However, all these outcome correlations were not independent of IGCCCG in multivariate analysis. The data indicated a link among different innate/adaptive peripheral immune cell subpopulations in GCT patients. In addition, the association between these subpopulations and tumor characteristics was also investigated. The findings of the present study may contribute to a deeper understanding of the interactions between cancer and innate/adaptive immune response in GCT patients.

Keywords: adaptive immune cells; biomarkers; germ cell tumors; innate immune cells; patient outcome; tumor burden.