Spatial Transcriptomics Analysis Reveals that CCL17 and CCL22 are Robust Indicators of a Suppressive Immune Environment in Angioimmunoblastic T Cell Lymphoma (AITL)
Jun Du, Chen Qiu, Weisong Li, Bing Wang, Xinle Han, Su-Wen Lin, Xue-Hang Fu, Jian Hou, Zoufang Huang
Abstract
BACKGROUND: T cell lymphoma is a complex and highly aggressive clinicopathological entity with a poor outcome. The angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) tumor immune microenvironment is poorly investigated. METHODS: Here, to the best of our knowledge, spatial transcriptomics was applied for the first time to study AITL. RESULTS: Using this method, we observed that AITL was surrounded by cells bearing immune-suppressive markers. CCL17 and CCL22, the dominant ligands for CCR4, were up-regulated, while the expression of natural killer (NK) cell and CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) markers decreased. Colocalization of Treg cells with the CD4+ TFH-GC region was also deduced from the bioinformatic analysis. The results obtained with spatial transcriptomics confirm that AITL has a suppressive immune environment. Chemotherapy based on the CHOP regimen (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine plus prednisone) induced complete remission (CR) in this AITL patient. However, the duration of remission (DoR) remains a concern. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that AITL has an immune suppressive environment and suggests that anti-CCR4 therapy could be a promising treatment for this lethal disease.