Body composition of the host influences dendritic cell phenotype in patients treated for colorectal cancer

Immune cell status, cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition among breast cancer survivors and healthy women: a cross sectional study

Methods: We examined whether immune cell profiles differ between healthy women (n = 38) and breast cancer survivors (n = 27) within 2 years of treatment, and whether any group-differences were influenced by age, cytomegalovirus infection, cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition. Using flow cytometry, CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets, including naïve (NA), central memory (CM) and effector cells (EM and EMRA) were identified using CD27/CD45RA. Activation was measured by HLA-DR expression. Stem cell-like memory T cells (TSCMs) were identified using CD95/CD127. B cells, including plasmablasts, memory, immature and naïve cells were identified using CD19/CD27/CD38/CD10. Effector and regulatory Natural Killer cells were identified using CD56/CD16. Results: Compared to healthy women, CD4+ CM were +Δ21% higher among survivors (p = 0.028) and CD8+ NA were -Δ25% lower (p = 0.034). Across CD4+ and CD8+ subsets, the proportion of activated (HLA-DR+) cells was +Δ31% higher among survivors: CD4+ CM (+Δ25%), CD4+ EM (+Δ32%) and CD4+ EMRA (+Δ43%), total CD8⁺ (+Δ30%), CD8+ EM (+Δ30%) and CD8+ EMRA (+Δ25%) (p < 0.046). The counts of immature B cells, NK cells and CD16+ NK effector cells were higher among survivors (+Δ100%, +Δ108% and +Δ143% respectively, p < 0.04). Subsequent analyses examined whether statistically significant differences in participant characteristics, influenced immunological differences between groups. Compared to healthy women, survivors were older (56 ± 6 y vs. 45 ± 11 y), had lower cardiorespiratory fitness (V˙O2max mL kg^-1 min^-1: 28.8 ± 5.0 vs. 36.2 ± 8.5), lower lean mass (42.3 ± 5.0 kg vs. 48.4 ± 15.8 kg), higher body fat (36.3% ± 5.3% vs. 32.7% ± 6.4%) and higher fat mass index (FMI kg/m²: 9.5 ± 2.2 vs. 8.1 ± 2.7) (all p < 0.033). Analysis of covariance revealed divergent moderating effects of age, CMV serostatus, cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition on the differences in immune cell profiles between groups, depending on the cell type examined. Moreover, across all participants, fat mass index was positively associated with the proportion of HLA-DR+ CD4+ EMRA and CD8+ EM/EMRA T cells (Pearson correlation: r > 0.305, p < 0.019). The association between fat mass index and HLA-DR+ CD8+ EMRA T cells withstood statistical adjustment for all variables, including age, CMV serostatus, lean mass and cardiorespiratory fitness, potentially implicating these cells as contributors to inflammatory/immune-dysfunction in overweight/obesity.

Overcoming barriers to timely recognition and treatment of cancer cachexia: Sharing Progress in Cancer Care Task Force Position Paper and Call to Action

Cachexia is a life-threatening disorder affecting an estimated 50-80% of cancer patients. The loss of skeletal muscle mass in patients with cachexia is associated with an increased risk of anticancer treatment toxicity, surgical complications and reduced response. Despite international guidelines, the identification and management of cancer cachexia remains a significant unmet need owing in part to the lack of routine screening for malnutrition and suboptimal integration of nutrition and metabolic care into clinical oncology practice. In June 2020, Sharing Progress in Cancer Care (SPCC) convened a multidisciplinary task force of medical experts and patient advocates to examine the barriers preventing the timely recognition of cancer cachexia, and provide practical recommendations to improve clinical care. This position paper summarises the key points and highlights available resources to support the integration of structured nutrition care pathways.

Skeletal muscle radiodensity and cancer outcomes: A scoping review of the literature

Patients with cancer are more prone to experience myosteatosis than healthy individuals. The aim of this review was to summarize the methodologies applied for low skeletal muscle radiodensity (SMD) assessment in oncology patients, as well as to describe the major findings related to SMD and cancer outcomes. This scoping review included studies that were published until November 2020 in English, Portuguese, or Spanish; were performed in humans diagnosed with cancer, adult and/or elderly, of both sexes; investigated SMD through computed tomography of the region between the third and fifth lumbar vertebrae, considering at least two muscular groups; and evaluated clinical and/or surgical outcomes. Eighty-eight studies met the inclusion criteria (n = 37,583 patients). Survival was the most evaluated outcome. Most studies reported a significant association between low SMD and unfavorable outcomes. However, this relationship was not clear for survival, antineoplastic treatment, and surgical complications, potentially because of the unstandardized approaches for the assessment of SMD and inadequate study design. Future studies should address these issues to provide an in-depth understanding of the clinical relevance of SMD in cancer outcomes as well as how SMD is influenced by individuals and tumor-related characteristics in patients with cancer.

Body composition is prognostic and predictive of ipilimumab activity in metastatic melanoma

BACKGROUND

Body composition is minimally investigated in an immunotherapy era. Specific body composition signals such as myosteatosis may reflect aspects of patients' immunology and thereby their ability to respond to immunotherapies. Ipilimumab is a key checkpoint inhibitor in metastatic melanoma. As an antibody, it may also be more accurately dosed using body composition parameters rather than weight alone. This retrospective study aimed to investigate body composition-based dosing and outcomes.

METHODS

Pretreatment computed tomography images from metastatic melanoma, ipilimumab-treated patients from 2009 to 2014 were used to measure myosteatosis [skeletal muscle radiographic density or SMD, in Hounsfield units (HU)] and surface area (cm² ) as previously described. Cut point analysis determined whether a level of ipilimumab dose and myosteatosis demonstrated differences in progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Secondary endpoints included objective response rates and toxicities.

RESULTS

Of 121 identified, 97 patients were evaluable. Baseline demographics included 56 years median age, 60% male participants, and 23.7% with BRAF mutations. SMD analysis identified cut-offs of SMD < 42 in those with BMI < 25 kg/m² and <20 HU in those with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² , respectively. Low SMD patients had poorer median PFS [2.4 vs. 2.7 months, hazard ratio (HR) 1.76, P = 0.008] and OS (5.4 vs. 17.5 months, HR 2.47, P = 0.001), which remained significant in multivariate modelling. High SMD patients had more immune-related adverse events, better objective response rates (17.9 vs. 3.3%, P = 0.051), and lower baseline neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (21 vs. 39%, P = 0.049). Separately, patients receiving <2.03 mg/cm² had improved median PFS (3.0 vs. 2.6 months, HR 1.88, P = 0.02) and OS (14.9 vs. 5.7 months, HR 1.98, P = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Low SMD and receiving >2.03 mg/cm² are prognostic of poorer melanoma outcomes post ipilimumab. SMD may identify patients with flawed immunology and predict who may better respond to such therapy. Ipilimumab dosing by skeletal muscle index stands in contrast to weight-based dosing and may demonstrate a more accurate method of antibody dosing.

Assessing skeletal muscle radiodensity by computed tomography: An integrative review of the applied methodologies

Low-radiodensity skeletal muscle has been related to the degree of muscle fat infiltration and seems to be associated with worse outcomes. The aim of this study was to summarize the methodologies used to appraise skeletal muscle radiodensity by computed tomography, to describe the terms used in the literature to define muscle radiodensity and to give recommendations for its measurement standardization. An integrative bibliographic review in four databases included studies published until August 2019 in Portuguese, English or Spanish and performed in humans, adults and/or the elderly, of both sex, which investigated skeletal muscle radiodensity through computed tomography (CT) of the region between the third and fifth lumbar vertebrae and evaluated at least two muscular groups. One hundred and seventeen studies were selected. We observed a trend towards selecting all abdominal region muscle. A significant methodological variation in terms of contrast use, selection of skeletal muscle areas, radiodensity ranges delimitation and their cut-off points, as well as the terminologies used, was also found. The methodological differences detected are probably due to the lack of more precise information about the correlation between skeletal muscle radiodensity by CT and its molecular composition, among others. Therefore, until the gaps are addressed in future studies, authors should avoid arbitrary approaches when reporting skeletal muscle radiodensity, especially when it comes to prognosis inference. Studies using both CT and direct methods of muscle composition evaluation are encouraged, to enable the definition and validation of the best approach to classify fat-infiltrated muscle tissue, which will favour the nomenclature uniformization.

Pre-diagnostic anthropometry, sex, and risk of colorectal cancer according to tumor immune cell composition

Obesity is a well-established risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC), but the association with the tumor microenvironment has been sparsely described. Herein, we examined the relationship between pre-diagnostic anthropometry and CRC risk according to tumor immune cell composition, with particular reference to potential sex differences.

The density of different immune cell subsets was assessed by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarrays with tumors from 584 incident CRC cases in a prospective, population-based cohort (n = 28098). Multivariable Cox regression models, adjusted for age, smoking, alcohol intake, and educational level, were applied to calculate risk of immune marker-defined CRC in relation to quartiles of pre-diagnostic height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumferences, waist-hip ratio (WHR), and body fat percentage (BFP).

Obesity was all over significantly associated with risk of CRC with low density of FoxP3⁺ T cells and low programmed cell-death protein 1 (PD-L1) expression on tumor cells, but with high density of CD8⁺ T cells and CD20⁺ B cells. In women, obesity was significantly associated with risk of PD-L1 high tumors (p= 0.009 for weight, p= 0.039 for BMI). Contrastingly, in men, obesity defined by all anthropometric factors was significantly associated with PD-L1 low tumors (p= 0.005 for weight, p = 0.002 for BMI, p<0.001 for waist, p= 0.011 for hip, p<0.001 for WHR, and p= 0.004 for BFP).

In summary, obesity appears to influence the immune landscape of CRC, possibly in a sex-dependent manner. Thus, anthropometry and sex may be important factors to take into account when assessing the prognostic or predictive value of relevant complementary immune biomarkers.

Immunohistochemical phenotyping of T cells, granulocytes, and phagocytes in the muscle of cancer patients: association with radiologically defined muscle mass and gene expression

BACKGROUND

Inflammation is a recognized contributor to muscle wasting. Research in injury and myopathy suggests that interactions between the skeletal muscle and immune cells confer a pro-inflammatory environment that influences muscle loss through several mechanisms; however, this has not been explored in the cancer setting. This study investigated the local immune environment of the muscle by identifying the phenotype of immune cell populations in the muscle and their relationship to muscle mass in cancer patients.

METHODS

Intraoperative muscle biopsies were collected from cancer patients (n = 30, 91% gastrointestinal malignancies). Muscle mass was assessed histologically (muscle fiber cross-sectional area, CSA; μm²) and radiologically (lumbar skeletal muscle index, SMI; cm²/m² by computed tomography, CT). T cells (CD4 and CD8) and granulocytes/phagocytes (CD11b, CD14, and CD15) were assessed by immunohistochemistry. Microarray analysis was conducted in the muscle of a second cancer patient cohort.

RESULTS

T cells (CD3+), granulocytes/phagocytes (CD11b+), and CD3-CD4+ cells were identified. Muscle fiber CSA (μm²) was positively correlated (Spearman's r = > 0.45; p = < 0.05) with the total number of T cells, CD4, and CD8 T cells and granulocytes/phagocytes. In addition, patients with the smallest SMI exhibited fewer CD8 T cells within their muscle. Consistent with this, further exploration with gene correlation analyses suggests that the presence of CD8 T cells is negatively associated (Pearson's r = ≥ 0.5; p = <0.0001) with key genes within muscle catabolic pathways for signaling (ACVR2B), ubiquitin proteasome (FOXO4, TRIM63, FBXO32, MUL1, UBC, UBB, UBE2L3), and apoptosis/autophagy (CASP8, BECN1, ATG13, SIVA1).

CONCLUSION

The skeletal muscle immune environment of cancer patients is comprised of immune cell populations from the adaptive and innate immunity. Correlations of T cells, granulocyte/phagocytes, and CD3-CD4+ cells with muscle mass measurements indicate a positive relationship between immune cell numbers and muscle mass status in cancer patients. Further exploration with gene correlation analyses suggests that the presence of CD8 T cells is negatively correlated with components of muscle catabolism.