Abstract
T cell receptor (TCR) β V and J usage correlates with either the HLA class I or HLA class II major histocompatibility subtypes, and in both infectious diseases and autoimmune settings, the use of particular TCR-β V and J’s, in persons with specific HLA alleles, represents either better outcomes or certain clinical features. However, the relationship of TCR V and J usage, HLA alleles, and clinical parameters in the cancer setting has been less well studied. Here, we have evaluated the relationship of what is likely dominant TCR-β V and J usage among tissue-resident lymphocytes for lung, head and neck, kidney, stomach, ovarian, and endometrial cancers, with patient HLA class II alleles. The most striking indication is that TCR-β J subgroup usage, in combination with particular patient HLA class II alleles, correlated with either better or worse outcomes for lung cancer. One combination, TCR-β J2 segment usage and the HLA-DRB1*1501 allele, correlated with a better survival rate for both lung and head and neck cancers. These results fill a gap in knowledge regarding the relevance of HLA typing to cancer and indicate that HLA typing, along with an indication of dominant TCR-β J usage among tissue-resident lymphocytes, can be useful for prognosis.
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Abbreviations
- HNSC:
-
Head and neck squamous carcinoma
- KIRC:
-
Kidney and renal carcinoma
- LUAD:
-
Lung adenocarcinoma
- OV:
-
Ovarian cancer
- TCGA:
-
The Cancer Genome Atlast
- UCEC:
-
Uterine corpus and endometrial carcinoma
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Authors would like to acknowledge the support of USF Research Computing and the taxpayers of the State of Florida. BMC was a recipient of a Bonati scholarship.
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Callahan, B.M., Tong, W.L. & Blanck, G. T cell receptor-β J usage, in combination with particular HLA class II alleles, correlates with better cancer survival rates. Immunol Res 66, 219–223 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-018-8990-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-018-8990-y