ArticleBritish journal of cancer2022
Tumour immune microenvironment in resected thymic carcinomas as a predictor of clinical outcome.
Article in British journal of cancer, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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9 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Perspective on the integration of radiomics and spatial omics in the analysis of the tumor microenvironment of bladder cancer and prospects for precision diagnosis and treatment.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- An integrated automated deep learning framework for annotating tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in lung adenocarcinoma pathology.Frontiers in bioinformatics · 2026Article
- Immune landscape-driven subtyping reveals distinct microenvironment and prognostic profiles in thymic epithelial tumors.NPJ precision oncology · 2025Article
- Predictive role of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and immune phenotype for pembrolizumab in relapsed or refractory thymic carcinoma.Journal of thoracic disease · 2025Article
- Gastric metastasis from PD-L1-positive lung squamous cell carcinoma combined with multiple primary malignant tumors: a case description.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2025Article
- Factors distinguishing thymomas from thymic squamous cell carcinoma: a proposal for diagnosis emphasizing the immunophenotype.Mediastinum (Hong Kong, China) · 2025Review
- Perspectives on surgical treatment for thymic epithelial tumors: a narrative review.Gland surgery · 2024Review
- Immunotherapy and Targeted Therapies Efficacy in Thymic Epithelial Tumors: A Systematic Review.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- Immunotherapy of thymic epithelial tumors: molecular understandings and clinical perspectives.Molecular cancer · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
backgroundThe spatial distribution of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is a novel descriptor characterising the tumour immune microenvironment (TIME). The aim of our study was to assess whether a specific TIME of surgically resected thymic carcinoma (TC) can predict tumour invasiveness, recurrence or survival.
methodsDigital microscopy was performed on 39 TCs immunohistochemically stained to investigate the activation of the immune checkpoint pathway (PD-L1/PD-1), along with density and spatial distribution of TILs phenotypes (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, FOXP3+, CD56+). The impact of PD-L1 and TIL density considering the intratumoural (iTILs) and stromal (sTILs) distribution on pathological characteristics and clinical outcomes were analysed.
resultsIn early TC stages, we observed a higher total density of CD3+ (p = 0.05) and CD8+ (p = 0.02) TILs. PD-L1 was expressed in 71.8% of TCs. In advanced TC stages, we observed a lower density of CD3+ (p = 0.04) and CD8+ (p = 0.01) iTILs compared to early stages. Serum concentrations of PD-L1 were significantly higher in TCs compared to healthy controls: 134.43 ± 18.51 vs. 82.01 ± 6.34 pg/ml (p = 0.001), respectively. High densities of stromal CD4+ TILs (54 vs. 32%, p = 0.043) and CD8+ TILs (65 vs. 17%, p = 0.048) were associated with improved freedom from recurrence (FFR) and cause-specific survival (CSS). High density of FoxP3+ TILs were associated with improved FFR (p = 0.03) and CSS (p = 0.003). DISCUSSION: Mapping TIL subpopulations complement the armamentarium for prognostication of TC outcomes. The improved outcome in patients with high density of TILs supports the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in TC patients.
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