Differences of tumor microenvironment between stage I lepidic-positive and lepidic-negative lung adenocarcinomas

Prognostic implications, genomic and immune characteristics of lung adenocarcinoma with lepidic growth pattern

AIMS

Conflicting data were provided regarding the prognostic impact and genomic features of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) with lepidic growth pattern (LP+A). Delineation of the genomic and immune characteristics of LP+A could provide deeper insights into its prognostic implications and treatment determination.

METHODS

We conducted a search of articles in PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library from inception to January 2024. A domestic cohort consisting of 52 LUAD samples was subjected to whole-exome sequencing as internal validation. Data from The Cancer Genomic Atlas and the Gene Expression Omnibus datasets were obtained to characterise the genomic and immune profiles of LP+A. Pooled HRs and rates were calculated.

RESULTS

The pooled results indicated that lepidic growth pattern was either predominant (0.35, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.56, p<0.01) or minor (HR 0.50, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.70, p<0.01) histological subtype was associated with favourable disease-free survival. Pooled gene mutation rates suggested higher EGFR mutation (0.55, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.64, p<0.01) and lower KRAS mutation (0.14, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.25, p=0.02) in lepidic-predominant LUAD. Lepidic-predominant LUAD had lower tumour mutation burden and pooled positive rate of PD-L1 expression compared with other subtypes. LP+A was characterised by abundance in resting CD4+memory T cells, monocytes and γδ T cells, as well as scarcity of cancer-associated fibroblasts.

CONCLUSIONS

LP+A was a unique histological subtype with a higher EGFR mutation rate, lower tumour mutation burden and immune checkpoint expression levels. Our findings suggested potential benefits from targeted therapy over immunotherapy in LP+A.

Impact of histopathological subtypes on invasive lung adenocarcinoma: from epidemiology to tumour microenvironment to therapeutic strategies

Lung adenocarcinoma is the most prevalent type of lung cancer, with invasive lung adenocarcinoma being the most common subtype. Screening and early treatment of high-risk individuals have improved survival; however, significant differences in prognosis still exist among patients at the same stage, especially in the early stages. Invasive lung adenocarcinoma has different histological morphologies and biological characteristics that can distinguish its prognosis. Notably, several studies have found that the pathological subtypes of invasive lung adenocarcinoma are closely associated with clinical treatment. This review summarised the distribution of various pathological subtypes of invasive lung adenocarcinoma in the population and their relationship with sex, smoking, imaging features, and other histological characteristics. We comprehensively analysed the genetic characteristics and biomarkers of the different pathological subtypes of invasive lung adenocarcinoma. Understanding the interaction between the pathological subtypes of invasive lung adenocarcinoma and the tumour microenvironment helps to reveal new therapeutic targets for lung adenocarcinoma. We also extensively reviewed the prognosis of various pathological subtypes and their effects on selecting surgical methods and adjuvant therapy and explored future treatment strategies.

Prognostic Impact of Non-Predominant Lepidic Components in Pathologic Stage I Invasive Nonmucinous Adenocarcinoma

INTRODUCTION

This study investigated the prognostic impact of non-predominant lepidic components in invasive nonmucinous adenocarcinoma.

METHODS

Patients who underwent lobectomy and were diagnosed with stage I nonmucinous, non-lepidic-predominant invasive adenocarcinoma based on pathologic findings were included. Tumors were staged according to the eighth edition of TNM classification and categorized on the basis of the presence of lepidic components in the final pathologic findings. Overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were analyzed before and after applying inverse probability of treatment weighting. Competing risk analyses for recurrence were also compared in the two groups.

RESULTS

Of the 1270 patients, 858 (67.6%) had lepidic components (+). The pathologic stage and histologic grade were higher in the lepidic (-) group (p < 0.001, respectively). The 5-year OS and RFS were significantly worse in the lepidic (-) group than in the lepidic (+) group (OS: 88.2% versus 94.9%, p < 0.001; RFS: 79.4% versus 91.9%, p < 0.001). These trends were consistent after weighted analysis (OS: 92.4% versus 96.4%, p = 0.029; RFS: 85.6% versus 92.3%, p = 0.007). The 5-year cumulative incidence of any recurrence was 14.0% in the lepidic (-) group and 4.1% in the lepidic (+) group (p < 0.001). Multivariable Fine-Gray regression analysis found that the lepidic (+) group exhibited a lower risk of recurrence than did the lepidic (-) group (hazard ratio = 0.52, 95% confidence interval: 0.29-0.93, p = 0.031).

CONCLUSIONS

In pathologic stage I invasive nonmucinous adenocarcinoma, the presence of histologically diagnosed non-predominant lepidic components might be associated with a better prognosis after curative surgery.

Unveiling chemotherapy-induced immune landscape remodeling and metabolic reprogramming in lung adenocarcinoma by scRNA-sequencing

Chemotherapy is widely used to treat lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients comprehensively. Considering the limitations of chemotherapy due to drug resistance and other issues, it is crucial to explore the impact of chemotherapy and immunotherapy on these aspects. In this study, tumor samples from nine LUAD patients, of which four only received surgery and five received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, were subjected to scRNA-seq analysis. In vitro and in vivo assays, including flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, Seahorse assay, and tumor xenograft models, were carried out to validate our findings. A total of 83,622 cells were enrolled for subsequent analyses. The composition of cell types exhibited high heterogeneity across different groups. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that chemotherapy drove significant metabolic reprogramming in tumor cells and macrophages. We identified two subtypes of macrophages: Anti-mac cells (CD45+CD11b+CD86+) and Pro-mac cells (CD45+CD11b+ARG +) and sorted them by flow cytometry. The proportion of Pro-mac cells in LUAD tissues increased significantly after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Pro-mac cells promote tumor growth and angiogenesis and also suppress tumor immunity. Moreover, by analyzing the remodeling of T and B cells induced by neoadjuvant therapy, we noted that chemotherapy ignited a relatively more robust immune cytotoxic response toward tumor cells. Our study demonstrates that chemotherapy induces metabolic reprogramming within the tumor microenvironment of LUAD, particularly affecting the function and composition of immune cells such as macrophages and T cells. We believe our findings will offer insight into the mechanisms of drug resistance and provide novel therapeutic targets for LUAD in the future.

Ultrasound-Responsive Nanocarriers Delivering siRNA and Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Reprogram Macrophages and Inhibit M2 Polarization for Enhanced NSCLC Immunotherapy

Lung cancer has emerged as the second most common type of malignant tumor worldwide, and it has the highest mortality rate. The overall 5-year survival rate stands at less than 20%, which is primarily related to the limited therapeutic options and the complexity of the tumor immune microenvironment. In the tumor microenvironment, M1 macrophages are known for their tumor-killing capabilities. Although they are less numerous, they play an important role in tumor immunity. Therefore, increasing M1 macrophages' presence is considered a strategy to enhance targeted phagocytosis and antitumor efficacy in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study introduces the development of folic acid (FA)-conjugated liposomal nanobubbles for precise delivery of PFH, STAT3 siRNA, and Fe3O4 to the tumor microenvironment. These encapsulated PFH liposomal nanobubbles exhibit significant visualization potential and underwent phase transition when exposed to low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU). The release of Fe3O4 activates the IRF5 signaling pathway, converting M2-like macrophages to M1. In addition, STAT3 siRNA effectively interrupts the JAK-STAT3 pathway, inhibiting the polarization of M2-like macrophages in tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). This dual-action therapy facilitates T-cell activation and proliferation, thereby enhancing the immune response against NSCLC.

Single-cell analyzing of tumor microenvironment and cell adhesion between early and late-stage lung cancer

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a highly heterogeneous disease that threaten human life with serious incidence and high mortality. High heterogeneity of tumor microenvironment (TME) was reported in multiple studies. However, the factor of controlling the tumor migration progression between eary and late-stage LUAD is still not fully understood. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data of LUAD obtained from the GEO database. The identification of cell clusters revealed significant expansion of epithelial cells in late-stage patients. Interpretation of the cell-cell communication results between early-stage and late-stage patient samples indicated that early tumor cells may interact with epithelial cells through the TGF-β pathway to promote tumor progression. The cell cycle analysis demonstrated a significant increase in the number of cells in the G2 and M phases in late-stage lung cancer. Further analysis using Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) revealed early-stage cell-specific gene features involved in cell adhesion-related biological processes. Among these, the Tensin (TNS) gene family, particularly TNS1, showed high expression in epithelial cells and fibroblasts of early-stage samples, specifically associated with cell adhesion. Survival analysis using TCGA database for LUAD demonstrated that patients with high expression of TNS1 exhibited significantly higher overall survival rates compared to those with low expression. Immunofluorescence experiments have demonstrated co-expression of TNS1 with fibroblast and tumor cell markers (α-SMA and EPCAM). Immunohistochemistry experiments further validated the significantly higher expression levels of TNS1 in early-stage LUAD tissues compared to late-stage lung cancer tissues (P<0.05). Pathway experiments have shown that early-stage tumor patients with high expression of TNS1 exhibit stronger phosphorylation levels of Akt and mTOR, indicating a more potent activation of the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. In conclusion, the results of this study demonstrate that TNS1 is an adhesive molecule in the immune microenvironment of early-stage tumor cells, and it may serve as a novel prognostic marker for lug cancer.

Circulating Tumor Cells: From the Laboratory to the Cancer Clinic; A Closing Comment

Cancer recurrence not only shortens the life span of cancer patients, but also leads to a decrease in QOL, so it needs to be controlled [...].

Proposal of a revised International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer grading system in pulmonary non-mucinous adenocarcinoma: The importance of the lepidic proportion

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to measure the validity of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) grading system in Korean patients and propose a modification for an increase of its predictability, especially in grade 2 patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

From 2012 to 2017, histopathologic characteristics of 1358 patients with invasive pulmonary adenocarcinoma (stage I-III) from two institutions were retrospectively reviewed and re-classified according to the IASLC grading system. Considering the amount of the lepidic proportion, the validity of the revised model (Lepidic-10), derived from the training cohort (hospital A), was measured using the validation cohort (hospital B). Its predictability was compared to that of the IASLC system.

RESULTS

Of the 1358 patients, 259 had a recurrence, and 189 died during follow-up. The Harrell's concordance index and area under the curve of the IASLC system were 0.685 and 0.699 for recurrence-free survival (RFS) and 0.669 and 0.679 for death, respectively. From the training cohort, the IASLC grade 2 patients were divided into grades 2a and 2b (Lepidic-10 model) with a 10 % lepidic pattern. This new model further distinguished patients in both institutions that had better performance than the IASLC grading (Hospital A, p < 0.001 for RFS and death; Hospital B, p = 0.0215 for RFS, p = 0.0429 for death).

CONCLUSION

The IASLC grading system was easily applicable; its clinical use in predicting the prognosis of Korean patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma was validated. Furthermore, the introduction of the lepidic proportion as an additional criterion to differentiate grade 2 patients improved its predictability.

Minor histological components predict the recurrence of patients with resected stage I acinar- or papillary-predominant lung adenocarcinoma

Objective

Invasive lung adenocarcinoma is composed of five different histological subgroups with diverse biological behavior and heterogeneous morphology, the acinar/papillary-predominant lung adenocarcinomas are the most common subgroups and recognized as an intermediate-grade group. In the real world, clinicians primarily consider predominant patterns and ignore the impact of minor components in the prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma. The study evaluated the clinicopathologic characteristics of the lepidic, solid, and micropapillary patterns as non-predominant components and whether the minimal patterns had prognostic value on acinar/papillary-predominant lung adenocarcinomas.

Methods

A total of 153 acinar/papillary-predominant lung adenocarcinoma patients with tumor size ≤4 cm were classified into four risk subgroups based on the presence of lepidic and micropapillary/solid components: MP/S^-Lep⁺, MP/S⁺Lep⁺, MP/S^-Lep^-, and MP/S⁺Lep^- groups. The Cox-proportional hazard regression model was used to assess disease-free survival (DFS).

Results

The risk subgroups based on the non-predominant patterns were associated with differentiation (P = 0.001), lymphovascular invasion (P = 0.001), and recurrence (P = 0.003). In univariate analysis, DFS was correlated with non-predominant components (P = 0.014), lymphovascular invasion (P = 0.001), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (P = 0.001), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) (P = 0.012). In the multivariate analysis, non-predominant components (P = 0.043) and PLR (P = 0.032) were independent prognostic factors for DFS. The 5-year survival rates of MP/S^-Lep⁺, MP/S⁺Lep⁺, MP/S^-Lep^- and MP/S⁺Lep^- subgroups were 93.1%,92.9%,73.1%,61.9%, respectively. The MP/S^-Lep⁺ subgroup had the favorable prognosis than MP/S⁺Lep^- subgroup with a statistically significant difference (P = 0.002). As minor components, the lepidic patterns were a protective factor, and the solid and micropapillary components were poor factors. The recurrence was related to the presence of non-predominant patterns rather than their proportion. Adjuvant chemotherapy did not significantly improve the prognosis of the MP/S⁺Lep^- subgroup (P = 0.839).

Conclusions

Regardless of the proportion, the presence of micropapillary/solid components and the absence of lepidic patterns are aggressive factors of DFS in patients with resected stage I acinar- or papillary-predominant lung adenocarcinoma.

Pure Solid Pattern of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Clustered Circulating Tumor Cells

There are two solid patterns of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) on computed tomography (CT): pure or mixed with ground-glass opacities (GGOs). They predict the degree of invasiveness, which may suggest the presence of clustered circulating tumor cells (CTCs), a predictor of poor prognosis. In this study, we assessed the implications of the solid patterns on CT and the preoperative clustered CTCs in surgically resected NSCLC. CTCs were detected using a size selection method. The correlation between the presence of preoperative clustered CTCs and the solid pattern and the prognostic implications were evaluated using co-variables from the clinical-pathological findings. Of the 142 cases, pure solid lesions (Group PS) and mixed GGOs (Group G) were observed in 92 (64.8%) and 50 (35.2%) patients, respectively. In Groups PS and G, clustered CTCs were detected in 29 (31.5%) and 1 (2.0%) patient (p < 0.01), respectively. The PS appearance was an independent predictor of preoperative clustered CTCs in the multivariable analysis, and preoperative clustered CTCs were an independent predictor of poor recurrence-free survival; the solid pattern was not an independent variable. Thus, the PS pattern of NSCLC on CT is an indicator of preoperative clustered CTCs, which is an independent poor prognosis predictor.

Radiomics for identifying lung adenocarcinomas with predominant lepidic growth manifesting as large pure ground-glass nodules on CT images

Purpose

To explore the value of radiomics in the identification of lung adenocarcinomas with predominant lepidic growth in pure ground-glass nodules (pGGNs) larger than 10 mm.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed CT images of 204 patients with large pGGNs (≥ 10 mm) pathologically diagnosed as minimally invasive adenocarcinomas (MIAs), lepidic predominant adenocarcinomas (LPAs), and non-lepidic predominant adenocarcinomas (NLPAs). All pGGNs in the two groups (MIA/LPA and NLPA) were randomly divided into training and test cohorts. Forty-seven patients from another center formed the external validation cohort. Baseline features, including clinical data and CT morphological and quantitative parameters, were collected to establish a baseline model. The radiomics model was built with the optimal radiomics features. The combined model was developed using the rad_score and independent baseline predictors. The performance of the models was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and compared using the DeLong test. The differential diagnosis performance of the models was compared with three radiologists (with 20+, 10+, and 3 years of experience) in the test cohort.

Results

The radiomics (training AUC: 0.833; test AUC: 0.804; and external validation AUC: 0.792) and combined (AUC: 0.849, 0.820, and 0.775, respectively) models performed better for discriminating than the baseline model (AUC: 0.756, 0.762, and 0.725, respectively) developed by tumor location and mean CT value of the whole nodule. The DeLong test showed that the AUCs of the combined and radiomics models were significantly increased in the training cohort. The highest AUC value of the radiologists was 0.600.

Conclusion

The application of CT radiomics improved the identification performance of lung adenocarcinomas with predominant lepidic growth appearing as pGGNs larger than 10 mm.

miR-6077 promotes cisplatin/pemetrexed resistance in lung adenocarcinoma via CDKN1A/cell cycle arrest and KEAP1/ferroptosis pathways

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Combination chemotherapy with cisplatin (CDDP) plus pemetrexed (PEM) remains the predominant therapeutic regimen; however, chemoresistance greatly limits its curative potential. Here, through CRISPR-Cas9 screening, we identified miR-6077 as a key driver of CDDP/PEM resistance in LUAD. Functional experiments verified that ectopic overexpression of miR-6077 desensitized LUAD cells to CDDP/PEM in both cell lines and patient-derived xenograft models. Through RNA sequencing in cells and single-cell sequencing of samples from patients with CDDP/PEM treatments, we observed CDDP/PEM-induced upregulation of CDKN1A and KEAP1, which in turn activated cell-cycle arrest and ferroptosis, respectively, thus leading to cell death. Through miRNA pull-down, we identified and validated that miR-6077 targets CDKN1A and KEAP1. Furthermore, we demonstrated that miR-6077 protects LUAD cells from cell death induced by CDDP/PEM via CDKN1A-CDK1-mediated cell-cycle arrest and KEAP1-NRF2-SLC7A11/NQO1-mediated ferroptosis, thus resulting in chemoresistance in multiple LUAD cells both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, we found that GMDS-AS1 and LINC01128 sensitized LUAD cells to CDDP/PEM by sponging miR-6077. Collectively, these results imply the critical role of miR-6077 in LUAD’s sensitivity to CDDP/PEM, thus providing a novel therapeutic strategy for overcoming chemoresistance in clinical practice.

[Progress in Single-cell RNA Sequencing of Lung Adenocarcinoma]

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most common subtype of lung cancer and one of the main causes of cancer-related deaths. In the past decade, with the widespread use of computed tomography (CT) in routine screening for lung cancer, the incidence of LUAD presenting as small pulmonary nodules radiologically, has increased remarkably. The mechanisms of the occurrence and progression of LUADs are complex, and the prognoses of patients with LUAD vary significantly. Although significant progress has been made in targeted therapy and immunotherapy for LUADs in recent years, the drug resistance of tumor cells has not been effectively overcome, which limits the benefits of patients. With the accomplishment of the Human Genome Project, sequencing-based genomic and transcriptomics have come into the field of clinical and scientific researches. Single-cell sequencing, as a new type of sequencing method that has captured increasing attention recently, can perform specific analysis of cell populations at single-cell level, which can reveal the unique changes of each cell type. Single-cell sequencing can also provide accurate assessment on heterogeneous stromal cells and cancer cells, which is helpful to reveal the complexity of molecular compositions and differences between non- and malignant tissues. To sum up, it is an urgent need for clinicians and basic scientists to deeply understand the pathogenesis and development of LUAD, the heterogeneity of tumor microenvironment (TME) and the mechanism of drug resistance formation through single-cell sequencing, so as to discover new therapeutic targets. In this paper, we reviewed and summarized the application and progress in single-cell sequencing of LUADs.
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Pathological features and prognostic implications of ground-glass opacity components on computed tomography for clinical stage I lung adenocarcinoma

PURPOSE

To investigate the prognostic implications and pathological features of clinical stage I lung adenocarcinoma with ground-glass opacity (GGO) on computed tomography (CT).

METHODS

The subjects of this retrospective study were 1228 patients with lung adenocarcinoma classified as clinical stage I, who underwent complete resection by lobectomy. The patients were divided into four groups based on the presence and proportion of GGO according to the consolidation-to-tumor ratio (CTR); A, CTR ≤ 0.5; B, 0.5 < CTR ≤ 0.75; C, 0.75 < CTR ≤ 1.0 with GGO; D, without GGO (pure-solid). We compared overall survival, pathological findings (N/ly/v/STAS), and histological subtypes within each clinical stage among the four groups.

RESULTS

We found no significant differences among tumors with GGO (groups A, B and C) for prognosis or pathological findings in all the clinical stages. The prognoses of groups A, B and C were significantly better than that of group D for patients with clinical stages IA2-IB disease. Tumors without GGO on CT had a significantly larger number of positive N, ly, v and STAS in almost all stages than tumors with GGO on CT. Tumors without GGO on CT had significantly more solid predominant and less lepidic predominant adenocarcinoma.

CONCLUSION

Not the proportion of GGO, but its presence on CT, as well as the size of the solid component, were correlated significantly with pathological characteristics and survival.

Landscape and dynamics of single tumor and immune cells in early and advanced-stage lung adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients with different American Joint Committee on Cancer stages have different overall 5-year survival rates. The tumor microenvironment (TME) and intra-tumor heterogeneity (ITH) have been shown to play a crucial role in the occurrence and development of tumors. However, the TME and ITH in different lesions of LUAD have not been extensively explored.

METHODS

We present a 204,157-cell catalog of the TME transcriptome in 29 lung samples to systematically explore the TME and ITH in the different stages of LUAD. Traditional RNA sequencing data and complete clinical information were downloaded from publicly available databases.

RESULTS

Based on these high-quality cells, we constructed a single-cell network underlying cellular and molecular features of normal lung, early LUAD, and advanced LUAD cells. In contrast with early malignant cells, we noticed that advanced malignant cells had a remarkably more complex TME and higher ITH level. We also found that compared with other immune cells, more differences in CD8+/CTL T cells, regulatory T cells, and follicular B cells were evident between early and advanced LUAD. Additionally, cell-cell communication analyses, revealed great diversity between different lesions of LUAD at the single-cell level. Flow cytometry and qRT-PCR were used to validate our results.

CONCLUSION

Our results revealed the cellular diversity and molecular complexity of cell lineages in different stages of LUAD. We believe our research, which serves as a basic framework and valuable resource, can facilitate exploration of the pathogenesis of LUAD and identify novel therapeutic targets in the future.

Proteomic Analyses Identify Differentially Expressed Proteins and Pathways Between Low-Risk and High-Risk Subtypes of Early-Stage Lung Adenocarcinoma and Their Prognostic Impacts

The histopathological subtype of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is closely associated with prognosis. Micropapillary or solid predominant LUAD tends to relapse after surgery at an early stage, whereas lepidic pattern shows a favorable outcome. However, the molecular mechanism underlying this phenomenon remains unknown. Here, we recruited 31 lepidic predominant LUADs (LR: low-risk subtype group) and 28 micropapillary or solid predominant LUADs (HR: high-risk subtype group). Tissues of these cases were obtained and label-free quantitative proteomic and bioinformatic analyses were performed. Additionally, prognostic impact of targeted proteins was validated using The Cancer Genome Atlas databases (n = 492) and tissue microarrays composed of early-stage LUADs (n = 228). A total of 192 differentially expressed proteins were identified between tumor tissues of LR and HR and three clusters were identified via hierarchical clustering excluding eight proteins. Cluster 1 (65 proteins) showed a sequential decrease in expression from normal tissues to tumor tissues of LR and then to HR and was predominantly enriched in pathways such as tyrosine metabolism and ECM-receptor interaction, and increased matched mRNA expression of 18 proteins from this cluster predicted favorable prognosis. Cluster 2 (70 proteins) demonstrated a sequential increase in expression from normal tissues to tumor tissues of LR and then to HR and was mainly enriched in pathways such as extracellular organization, DNA replication and cell cycle, and high matched mRNA expression of 25 proteins indicated poor prognosis. Cluster 3 (49 proteins) showed high expression only in LR, with high matched mRNA expression of 20 proteins in this cluster indicating favorable prognosis. Furthermore, high expression of ERO1A and FEN1 at protein level predicted poor prognosis in early-stage LUAD, supporting the mRNA results. In conclusion, we discovered key differentially expressed proteins and pathways between low-risk and high-risk subtypes of early-stage LUAD. Some of these proteins could serve as potential biomarkers in prognostic evaluation.

Identification of differentially expressed genes in lung adenocarcinoma cells using single-cell RNA sequencing not detected using traditional RNA sequencing and microarray

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Traditional RNA sequencing data fails to detect the exact cellular and molecular changes in tumor cells as they make up only a small proportion of tumor tissue. 10× genomics single-cell RNA sequencing (10× scRNA-seq) and gene expression data of LUAD patients was obtained from the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, ArrayExpress, TCGA, and GEO databases. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in LUAD and alveolar cells (DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell), tumor- and normal tissue-derived cells (DEGs-scRNA-sample), and normal and LUAD patients (DEGs-Bulk). Flow cytometry and qRT-PCR were performed to validate the significantly differentially expressed ligand-receptor pairs. We selected 159,219 cells and 594 samples in the scRNA-seq data and traditional RNA sequencing, respectively. A total of 1042 DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell, 788 DEGs-scRNA-sample, and 2510 DEGs-Bulk were identified in this study. We also identified 57 DEGs that were only detected in DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell (only-DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell). To explore the relationship between only-DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell and survival in LUAD, 14 and 22 only-DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell, which were closely related with survival in TCGA and GEO cohorts were identified. Functional enrichment analyses showed these DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cells were mainly related to cell proliferation and immunoregulation. Our study detected and compared DEGs at different levels and revealed genes that may regulate tumor development. Our results provide a potential new protocol to determine the contribution of DEGs to cancer progression and to help identify potential therapeutic targets.

Ligand-receptor interaction atlas within and between tumor cells and T cells in lung adenocarcinoma

Purpose: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Although tumor cell-T cell interactions are known to play a fundamental role in promoting tumor progression, these interactions have not been explored in LUAD.

Methods: The 10x genomics single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and gene expression data of LUAD patients were obtained from ArrayExpress, TCGA, and GEO databases. scRNA-seq data were analyzed and infiltrating tumor cells, epithelial cells, and T cells were identified in the tumor microenvironment. Differentially expressed ligand-receptor pairs were identified in tumor cells/normal epithelial cells and tumor T cells/non-tumor T cells based on corresponding scRNA-seq and gene expression data, respectively. These important interactions inside/across cancer cells and T cells in LUAD were systematically analyzed. Furthermore, a valid prognostic machine-learning model based on ligand-receptor interactions was built to predict the prognosis of LUAD patients. Flow cytometry and qRT-PCR were performed to validate the significantly differently expressed ligand-receptor pairs.

Results: Overall, 39,692 cells in scRNA-seq data were included in our study after quality filtering. A total of 65 ligand-receptor pairs (17 upregulated and 48 downregulated), including LAMB1-ITGB1, CD70-CD27, and HLA-B-LILRB2, and 96 ligand-receptor pairs (41 upregulated and 55 downregulated), including CCL5-CCR5, SELPLG-ITGB2, and CXCL13-CXCR5, were identified in LUAD cancer cells and T cells, respectively. To explore the crosstalk between cancer cells and T cells, 114 ligand-receptor pairs, including 11 ligand-receptor pair genes that could significantly affect survival outcomes, were identified in our research. A machine-learning model was established to accurately predict the prognosis of LUAD patients and ITGB4, CXCR5, and MET were found to play an important role in prognosis in our model. Flow cytometry and qRT-PCR analyses indicated the reliability of our study.

Conclusion: Our study revealed functionally significant interactions within and between cancer cells and T cells. We believe these observations will improve our understanding of potential mechanisms of tumor microenvironment contributions to cancer progression and help identify potential targets for immunotherapy in the future.

Immune regulatory markers of lepidic-pattern adenocarcinomas presenting as ground glass opacities

Background

The tumor immune microenvironment of lepidic-pattern adenocarcinoma remains poorly understood. In this study, we characterized tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and percent PD-L1 expression among adenocarcinoma presenting as either radiographic ground glass opacities (GGOs) or solid lesions.

Methods

Pathologic specimens of patients with clinical stage I lung adenocarcinoma were analyzed using tissue microarray sectioning. The invasive portion of the tumor was selected for the tissue core. Lepidic growth pattern was confirmed among the GGO lesions using whole section analysis. Progression was defined as pN+ or subsequent recurrence.

Results

A total of 181 patients were identified, among whom 13 (7%) represented GGOs without clinical progression, 113 (62%) represented radiographic solid lesions that never progressed, and 55 (30%) represented radiographic solid lesions that ultimately did progress. CD57+ cell density, a marker for antigen-specific, oligoclonal T cells and NK cells, differed among the three cohorts, with the highest cell density observed within radiographically solid lesions without progression, and lower cell density both in the radiographic solid lesions that progressed and GGOs. Other TIL phenotypes were not statistically different between cohorts. Of substantial clinical interest, median percent PD-L1 positive cells within GGOs was 14, whereas that of radiographic solid lesions without progression was 22, and radiographic solid lesions that subsequently progressed was 27 (P=0.07).

Conclusions

Lepidic pattern adenocarcinoma presenting as GGOs and radiographic solid lesions show differential immune regulation. Further studies to investigate whether GGOs representing adenocarcinoma have varying susceptibility to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy are warranted.

Radiologic Criteria in Predicting Pathologic Less Invasive Lung Cancer According to TNM 8th Edition

PURPOSE

The Japan Clinical Oncology Group Study 0201 has proposed radiologic criteria on thin-slice computed tomography to diagnose pathologic less invasive lung adenocarcinoma that could be a candidate for sublobar resection based on the previous tumor, node, metastasis classification system (TNM). The aim of this study was to propose the new radiologic criteria for predicting pathologic less invasive cancer according to the 8th edition TNM.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We analyzed 744 patients who had peripheral clinical Tis-T1cN0M0 non-small-cell lung cancer of 3 cm or less and underwent complete resection by lobectomy from 2003 to 2011. We defined lung cancer with no nodal involvement and no vessel invasion pathologically as a pathologic less invasive cancer and investigated the radiologic criteria on the basis of the solid component size and by the consolidation-to-tumor (C/T) ratio (calculated with the maximum solid component diameter divided by the maximum tumor diameter) by using preoperative thin-slice computed tomography to predict them with a specificity of 97% or more, and evaluated overall survival.

RESULTS

Patients with clinical Tis/T1mi/T1a disease had no pathologic invasive cancer except for one patient (specificity, 99%). From the investigation with the C/T ratio, only the criterion of C/T ratio 0.5 or less met the standard (specificity, 100%). The final specificity after combining these criteria was 99.6%, and they showed excellent prognosis (5-year overall survival rate, 96.2%).

CONCLUSION

Lung cancer with clinical Tis/T1mi/T1a or a C/T ratio of 0.5 or less can be completely cured by sublobar resection with sufficient margin because of its less invasive nature pathologically.