Immune and inflammatory cell composition of human lung cancer stroma

  • Recent studies indicate that the abnormal microenvironment of tumors may play a critical role in carcinogenesis, including lung cancer. We comprehensively assessed the number of stromal cells, especially immune/inflammatory cells, in lung cancer and evaluated their infiltration in cancers of different stages, types and metastatic characteristics potential. Immunohistochemical analysis of lung cancer tissue arrays containing normal and lung cancer sections was performed. This analysis was combined with cyto-/histomorphological assessment and quantification of cells to classify/subclassify tumors accurately and to perform a high throughput analysis of stromal cell composition in different types of lung cancer. In human lung cancer sections we observed a significant elevation/infiltration of total-T lymphocytes (CD3+), cytotoxic-T cells (CD8+), T-helper cells (CD4+), B cells (CD20+), macrophages (CD68+), mast cells (CD117+), mononuclear cells (CD11c+), plasma cells, activated-T cells (MUM1+), B cells, myeloid cells (PD1+) and neutrophilic granulocytes (myeloperoxidase+) compared with healthy donor specimens. We observed all of these immune cell markers in different types of lung cancers including squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, adenosquamous cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma, papillary adenocarcinoma, metastatic adenocarcinoma, and bronchioloalveolar carcinoma. The numbers of all tumor-associated immune cells (except MUM1+ cells) in stage III cancer specimens was significantly greater than those in stage I samples. We observed substantial stage-dependent immune cell infiltration in human lung tumors suggesting that the tumor microenvironment plays a critical role during lung carcinogenesis. Strategies for therapeutic interference with lung cancer microenvironment should consider the complexity of its immune cell composition.

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Author:Gamal-André Banat, Aleksandra Tretyn, Soni Savai PullamsettiORCiDGND, Jochen Wilhelm, Andreas WeigertORCiDGND, Catherine OleschORCiDGND, Katharina Ebel, Thorsten StieweORCiDGND, Friedrich GrimmingerORCiDGND, Werner SeegerORCiDGND, Ludger Fink, Rajkumar SavaiORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-390411
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139073
ISSN:1932-6203
Parent Title (English):PLoS One
Publisher:PLoS
Place of publication:Lawrence, Kan.
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2015/09/28
Date of first Publication:2015/09/28
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2016/02/03
Volume:10
Issue:(9): e0139073
Page Number:21
First Page:1
Last Page:21
Note:
Copyright: © 2015 Banat et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
HeBIS-PPN:375959815
Institutes:Biochemie, Chemie und Pharmazie / Biochemie und Chemie
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0