Abstract
Abstract
Background
High levels of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) tumor uptake are associated with worse prognosis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Meanwhile, high levels of immune cell infiltration in primary tumor have been linked to better prognosis in NSCLC. We conducted this study for precisely stratified prognosis of the lung adenocarcinoma patients using the integration of 18F-FDG positron emission tomography (PET) parameters and infiltrating immune cell scores as assessed by a genomic analysis.
Results
Using an RNA sequencing dataset, the patients were divided into three subtype groups. Additionally, 24 different immune cell scores and cytolytic scores (CYT) were obtained. In 18F-FDG PET scans, PET parameters of the primary tumors were obtained. An ANOVA test, a Chi-square test and a correlation analysis were also conducted. A Kaplan–Meier survival analysis with the log-rank test and multivariable Cox regression test was performed to evaluate prognostic values of the parameters. The terminal respiratory unit (TRU) group demonstrated lower 18F-FDG PET parameters, more females, and lower stages than the other groups. Meanwhile, the proximal inflammatory (PI) group showed a significantly higher CYT score compared to the other groups (P = .001). Also, CYT showed a positive correlation with tumor-to-liver maximum standardized uptake value ratio (TLR) in the PI group (P = .027). A high TLR (P = .01) score of 18F-FDG PET parameters and a high T follicular helper cell (TFH) score (P = .005) of immune cell scores were associated with prognosis with opposite tendencies. Furthermore, TLR and TFH were predictive of overall survival even after adjusting for clinicopathologic features and others (P = .024 and .047).
Conclusions
A high TLR score was found to be associated with worse prognosis, while high CD8 T cell and TFH scores predicted better prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma. Furthermore, TLR and TFH can be used to predict prognosis independently in patients with lung adenocarcinoma.
Funder
National Research Council of Science and Technology
Seoul National University
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging
Reference55 articles.
1. Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2020. CA Cancer J Clin. 2020;70:7–30. https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21590.
2. SEER. lung and bronchus cancer, recent trends in SEER age-adjusted incidence rates, 2000–2017. Observed Rates By Subtype, Both Sexes, All Races (includes Hispanic), All Ages, All Stages: National Cancer Institute; 2020.
3. Jin X, Zhao X, Liu X, Han K, Lu G, Zhang Y. Non-small cell lung cancer in young patients: an analysis of clinical, pathologic and TNM stage characteristics compared to the elderly. Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2020;13:1301–7. https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S264274.
4. Citak N, Guglielmetti L, Aksoy Y, Isgorucu O, Metin M, Sayar A, et al. Is there a prognostic difference between stage IIIA subgroups in lung cancer? Ann Thorac Surg. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.athoracsur.2020.10.033.
5. Smit MA, Philipsen MW, Postmus PE, Putter H, Tollenaar RA, Cohen D, et al. The prognostic value of the tumor-stroma ratio in squamous cell lung cancer, a cohort study. Cancer Treat Res Commun. 2020;25: 100247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctarc.2020.100247.