PD‐1 expression on the surface of peripheral blood CD4+ T cell and its association with the prognosis of patients with diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma

• Main Authors: Wei Zhang, Jie‐Fei Bai, Meng‐Xuan Zuo, Xin‐Xin Cao, Miao Chen, Yan Zhang, Xiao Han, Ding‐Rong Zhong, Dao‐Bin Zhou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2016-11-01
• Series: Cancer Medicine
• Subjects: Diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma; programmed death‐1; T cells; tumor microenvironment
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.874

Abstract The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between PD‐1 expression on the surface of CD4+ T cells and prognosis of patients with diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Sixty patients who were newly diagnosed with DLBCL and 39 healthy controls were enrolled. In CD4+ T cells of DLBCL patients, the median MFI of PD‐1 were 541.5 (range: 348.25–758.75), significantly higher than 250 (range: 211–326) in healthy controls (P < 0.001). The ZAP70, PI3K, and NFAT mRNA expression levels of patients were 0.47, 0.47, and 0.62 times, respectively, of those of the healthy controls (P < 0.05). In patients with the percentage of PD‐1 on CD4+ T cells ≥30.25%, their EFS and OS were significantly lower than patients with PD‐1+ CD4+ T cells <30.25% (P < 0.05). The possible explanation is that high PD‐1 expression on CD4+ cells of DLBCL patients may impair T‐cell function and thus contribute to poor prognosis. There was no relationship between PD‐1 surface expression on CD4+ T cells and PD‐1 expression within the biopsy of tumor microenvironments from DLBCL patients.