Integrative Analyses of Colorectal Cancer Show Immunoscore Is a Stronger Predictor of Patient Survival Than Microsatellite Instability

24/03/2016

Published by Jérome Galon and his team in Immunity

 
Mlecnik B, Bindea G, Angell HK, Maby P, Angelova M, Tougeron D, Church SE, Lafontaine L, Fischer M, Fredriksen T, Sasso M, Bilocq AM, Kirilovsky A, Obenauf AC, Hamieh M, Berger A, Bruneval P, Tuech JJ, Sabourin JC, Le Pessot F, Mauillon J, Rafii A, Laurent-Puig P, Speicher MR, Trajanoski Z, Michel P, Sesboüe R, Frebourg T, Pagès F, Valge-Archer V, Latouche JB, Galon J.

Immunity. 2016 Mar 15;44(3):698-711. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2016.02.025.
PMID: 26982367

Abstract
Microsatellite instability in colorectal cancer predicts favorable outcomes. However, the mechanistic relationship between microsatellite instability, tumor-infiltrating immune cells, Immunoscore, and their impact on patient survival remains to be elucidated. We found significant differences in mutational patterns, chromosomal instability, and gene expression that correlated with patient microsatellite instability status. A prominent immune gene expression was observed in microsatellite-instable (MSI) tumors, as well as in a subgroup of microsatellite-stable (MSS) tumors. MSI tumors had increased frameshift mutations, showed genetic evidence of immunoediting, had higher densities of Th1, effector-memory T cells, in situ proliferating T cells, and inhibitory PD1-PDL1 cells, had high Immunoscores, and were infiltrated with mutation-specific cytotoxic T cells. Multivariate analysis revealed that Immunoscore was superior to microsatellite instability in predicting patients’ disease-specific recurrence and survival. These findings indicate that assessment of the immune status via Immunoscore provides a potent indicator of tumor recurrence beyond microsatellite-instability staging that could be an important guide for immunotherapy strategies.


Correspondence should be addressed to Jérôme Galon