Prognostic Significance of Tumor-infiltrating T-cells in Ovarian Cancer: a Meta-analysis

By Wei-Ting Hwang, S. Adams, Emin Tahirović, Ian Hagemann, George Coukos. Gynecologic Oncology, 2011

609 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Objective The presence of T cells within the epithelial component of tumors, as histologic evidence of anti-tumor immunity, has been associated with a survival advantage in multiple studies across diverse patient cohorts. We performed a meta-analysis of studies evaluating the prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) on survival among women with ovarian cancer and to investigate factors associated with variations in this effect, including patient characteristics, surgical outcomes, tumor histology, and study protocols. Method Published studies that evaluated the association between TIL and patient survival were identified. Descriptive statistics, outcome data, and study quality were extracted from studies that met inclusion criteria. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were pooled across studies using the random-effects model. Publication bias was investigated using a funnel plot and heterogeneity was assessed with subgroup analysis and I2 statistics. Results Ten suitable studies comprising 1,815 patients with ovarian cancer were analyzed. Our results demonstrate that a lack of intraepithelial TILs is significantly associated with a worse survival among patients (pooled HR: 2.24, 95% CI; 1.71–2.91). Variations in the prognostic value of TIL status based on debulking status, scoring method, and geographic regions were identified. Conclusions Intraepithelial TILs are a robust predictor of outcome in ovarian cancer and define a specific class of patients, whose distinct tumor biology should be taken into account in devising appropriate therapeutic strategies.

Subfields: Immunology, Oncology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0841a9a06dc5ff92e033aeb5dabdf73578693120

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In Immunology

1. G. Barber
2. S. Spranger
3. T. Gajewski
4. Katherine A. Fitzgerald
5. G. Bergers
6. D. Hanahan
7. Shizuo Akira
8. Zhijian J. Chen

In Oncology

1. G. Barber
2. D. Hanahan
3. S. Spranger
4. T. Gajewski
5. G. Bergers
6. R. Weinberg
7. Rakesh K. Jain

Citations in the corpus

• Combined antiangiogenic and anti–PD-L1 therapy stimulates tumor immunity through HEV formation (2017, background): “Consequently, tumor-infiltrating T cells are generally absent or sparse in tumors; however, their presence is prognostic and predictive of response to standard therapies in many tumor types (54, 55).”
• Clinical significance of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in breast cancer (2016, background): “Infiltration of immune cells, particularly infiltration of anti-tumor type 1 lymphocytes, has predicted improved prognosis in many different tumor types including colon, ovarian, lung and breast cancer [1–4].”
• STING-Dependent Cytosolic DNA Sensing Mediates Innate Immune Recognition of Immunogenic Tumors (2014, background): “A subset of patients with ovarian cancer (Hwang et al., 2012), breast cancer (Mahmoud et al.”
• IFN-γ from lymphocytes induces PD-L1 expression and promotes progression of ovarian cancer (2015, background): “It was reported that a high number of intraepithelial CTLs in ovarian cancer is associated with favourable prognosis (Hwang et al, 2012), but few reports concerning the stromal CTL number have been published.”