Unraveling tumour microenvironment heterogeneity in nasopharyngeal carcinoma identifies biologically distinct immune subtypes predicting prognosis and immunotherapy responses

• Published in: Molecular cancer Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 14 - 8
• Main Authors: Chen, Yu-Pei, Lv, Jia-Wei, Mao, Yan-Ping, Li, Xiao-Min, Li, Jun-Yan, Wang, Ya-Qin, Xu, Cheng, Li, Ying-Qin, He, Qing-Mei, Yang, Xiao-Jing, Lei, Yuan, Shen, Jia-Yi, Tang, Ling-Long, Chen, Lei, Zhou, Guan-Qun, Li, Wen-Fei, Du, Xiao-Jing, Guo, Rui, Liu, Xu, Zhang, Yuan, Zeng, Jing, Yun, Jing-Ping, Sun, Ying, Liu, Na, Ma, Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 11.01.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Biomarkers; Cancer; Carcinoma; Cell cycle; Chemotherapy; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Forecasts and trends; Gene expression; Gene expression profiles; Genes; Immune checkpoint inhibitors; Immune response; Immunotherapy; Immunotherapy responses; Letter; Medical prognosis; Melanoma; Microenvironments; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Prognosis; Survival analysis; Tumors; Tumour microenvironment; Virtual microdissection; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Gene expression profiles; Prognosis; Virtual microdissection; Immunotherapy responses; Tumour microenvironment
• ISSN: 1476-4598; 1476-4598
• DOI: 10.1186/s12943-020-01292-5

Currently, there is no strong evidence of the well-established biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Here, we aimed to reveal the heterogeneity of tumour microenvironment (TME) through virtual microdissection of gene expression profiles. An immune-enriched subtype was identified in 38% (43/113) of patients, which was characterized by significant enrichment of immune cells or immune responses. The remaining patients were therefore classified as a non-Immune Subtype (non-IS), which exhibited highly proliferative features. Then we identified a tumour immune evasion state within the immune-enriched subtype (18/43, 42%), in which high expression of exclusion- and dysfunction-related signatures was observed. These subgroups were designated the Evaded and Active Immune Subtype (E-IS and A-IS), respectively. We further demonstrated that A-IS predicted favourable survival and improved ICI response as compared to E-IS and non-IS. In summary, this study introduces the novel immune subtypes and demonstrates their feasibility in tailoring immunotherapeutic strategies.