Tumors accumulated with infiltrated immune cells (hot tumors) have a higher response rate to immune checkpoint blockade, when compared with those with minimal T-cell infiltration (cold tumors). We report here that patients with lung cancer with different racial backgrounds harbored distinct immune cell profiles in the tumor microenvironment. Compared with African Americans (AA), Caucasian Americans (CA) exhibited increased immune cell infiltration and vasculature, and increased survival. Changes of survival and immune profile were most pronounced among active smokers and nonsmokers, compared with former smokers and total patients. Neighborhood analysis showed that immune cells accumulated around cancer cells in CAs but not AAs. Our findings reveal intrinsic biological differences between AA and CA patients with lung cancer, suggesting that treatment plans should be tailored for patients with different racial backgrounds.
Significance: We report biological racial differences among patients with lung cancer where Caucasians present a hot tumor microenvironment compared with cold tumor in AAs. Treatment plans should be customized to maximize therapeutic outcomes.
© 2022 The Authors; Published by the American Association for Cancer Research.