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Multiplexed single-cell pathology reveals the association of CD8 T-cell heterogeneity with prognostic outcomes in renal cell carcinoma

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Abstract

Despite the high sensitivity of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) to immunotherapy, RCC has been recognized as an unusual disease in which CD8+ T-cell infiltration into the tumor beds is related to a poor prognosis. To approach the inner landscape of immunobiology of RCC, we performed multiplexed seven-color immunohistochemistry (CD8, CD39, PD-1, Foxp3, PD-L1, and pan-cytokeratin AE1/AE3 with DAPI), which revealed the automated single-cell counts and calculations of individual cell-to-cell distances. In total, 186 subjects were included, in which CD39 was used as a marker for distinguishing tumor-specific (CD39+) and bystander (CD39−) T-cells. Our clear cell RCC cohort also revealed a poor prognosis if the tumor showed increased CD8+ T-cell infiltration. Intratumoral CD8+CD39+ T-cells as well as their exhausted CD8+CD39+PD-1+ T-cells in the central tumor areas enabled the subgrouping of patients according to malignancy. Analysis using specimens post-antiangiogenic treatment revealed a dramatic increase in proliferative Treg fraction Foxp3+PD-1+ cells, suggesting a potential mechanism of hyperprogressive disease after uses of anti-PD-1 antibody. Our cell-by-cell study platform provided spatial information on tumors, where bystander CD8+CD39− T-cells were dominant in the invasive margin areas. We uncovered a potential interaction between CD8+CD39+PD-1+ T-cells and Foxp3+PD-1+ Treg cells due to cell-to-cell proximity, forming a spatial niche more specialized in immunosuppression under PD-1 blockade. A paradigm shift to the immunosuppressive environment was more obvious in metastatic lesions; rather the infiltration of Foxp3+ and Foxp3+PD-1+ Treg cells was more pronounced. With this multiplexed single-cell pathology technique, we revealed further insight into the immunobiological standing of RCC.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI 19K18621 to T.M.; 18H04906, 18K19482, and 19H03792 to N.T.; 18K09150 to T.S.; 18H02939 to M.O.), the Takeda Science Foundation (N.T.), the Kobayashi Foundation for Cancer Research (N.T.), the SGH Foundation for Cancer Research (N.T.), and the Keio Gijuku Academic Development Funds (N.T.). The authors thank JKiC (JSR-Keio University Medical and Chemical Innovation Center) for special assistance to the multiplexed fluorescence imaging system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan

    Tetsushi Murakami, Nobuyuki Tanaka, Kimiharu Takamatsu, Kyohei Hakozaki, Keishiro Fukumoto, Tsukasa Masuda, Toshiaki Shinojima, Ryuichi Mizuno & Mototsugu Oya

  2. Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Keio University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Shuji Mikami

  3. Department of Urology, Saitama Medical University, Moroyama, Saitama, Japan

    Toshiaki Shinojima

  4. Department of Immunotherapeutics, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Kazuhiro Kakimi

  5. Laboratory for Medical Science Mathematics, Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Tatsuhiko Tsunoda

  6. Department of Medical Science Mathematics, Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), Tokyo, Japan

    Tatsuhiko Tsunoda

  7. Laboratory for Medical Science Mathematics, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, Japan

    Tatsuhiko Tsunoda

  8. Center for Integrated Medical Research, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Kazuaki Sawada

  9. Department of Molecular Medicine for Pathogenesis, Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime University, Toon, Japan

    Takeshi Imamura

Authors
  1. Tetsushi Murakami
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  2. Nobuyuki Tanaka
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  3. Kimiharu Takamatsu
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  4. Kyohei Hakozaki
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  5. Keishiro Fukumoto
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  6. Tsukasa Masuda
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  7. Shuji Mikami
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  8. Toshiaki Shinojima
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  9. Kazuhiro Kakimi
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  10. Tatsuhiko Tsunoda
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  11. Kazuaki Sawada
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  12. Takeshi Imamura
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  13. Ryuichi Mizuno
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  14. Mototsugu Oya
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Contributions

NT, RM, and MO designed the study. TM, KT, KH, KF, MT, and SM performed the experiments. TS, KK, TT, KS, and TI provided conceptual advice. TM and NT wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Nobuyuki Tanaka.

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Murakami, T., Tanaka, N., Takamatsu, K. et al. Multiplexed single-cell pathology reveals the association of CD8 T-cell heterogeneity with prognostic outcomes in renal cell carcinoma. Cancer Immunol Immunother 70, 3001–3013 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-021-03006-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-021-03006-2

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