Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40848148›Full record

ArticleCancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII2025

A platform for multisite immune profiling of premetastatic pancreatic cancer at single-cell resolution.

Elishama N Kanu, Ashley A Fletcher, Jiayin Bao, Ethan S Agritelley, Julia Button, Austin M Eckhoff, Karrie Comatas, Tao Wang, Bin-Jin Hwang, Michael E Lidsky and 9 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

19 authors.

Elishama N KanuDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Ashley A FletcherDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Jiayin BaoDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Ethan S AgritelleyDuke University School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Julia ButtonDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Austin M EckhoffDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Karrie ComatasDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Tao WangDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Bin-Jin HwangDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Michael E LidskyDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Sabino ZaniDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Dan G BlazerDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Peter J AllenDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Zhicheng JiDepartment of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Frank J LowerySurgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Sri KrishnaSurgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Nicholas D KlemenSurgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Daniel P NussbaumDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA. daniel.nussbaum@duke.edu.
Erika J CrosbyDepartment of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC, 27701, USA. erika.crosby@duke.edu.

Funding

Women's Cancer Research ProgramP30CA014236 · NCI · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI Laura Fish · 1985 to 2026
$174.8M
Advanced Immunobiology Traning Program for SurgeonsT32AI141342 · NIAID · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI Allan D. Kirk, GEORGIA Doris TOMARAS · 2019 to 2026
$1.8M
Intratumoral immunotherapy to enhance T cell infiltration and augment immune checkpoint blockade responses across molecular subtypes of breast cancerK22CA262340 · NCI · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI CROSBY, ERIKA J · 2022 to 2024
$396k
NCI NIH HHS K22 CA262340NCI NIH HHS P30 CA014236NIAID NIH HHS T32 AI141342NIH HHS 3P30CA014236-49S2NIH HHS 5K22CA262340-03School of Medicine, Duke University Physician-Scientist Strong Start ProgramSchool of Medicine, Duke University T32AI141342
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by exceedingly high rates of metastatic progression, with the liver representing the most common site of distant spread. Here, we established a platform for multisite immune profiling of human PDAC encompassing the tumor, peripheral circulation, and premetastatic liver, to more comprehensively study how various immune subsets might contribute to patient outcomes.

methodsTumor, liver, and blood samples were obtained from patients undergoing resection for non-metastatic PDAC. Derived immune cells underwent paired single-cell RNA and TCR sequencing. Immune composition, cell-type functional profiles, and T cell clonal expansion patterns were evaluated across tissue sites.

resultsIn total, 106,539 immune cells were sequenced, of which 85,748 met criteria for analysis. We identified 32 cell populations, of which seven demonstrated significant enrichment within a particular tissue, highlighting that this workflow possesses the granularity needed for identifying potential future biomarkers. Functional profiling revealed tissue-specific differences in cell phenotypes. This included terminally differentiated exhausted CD8 T cells within the tumor, highly active Tregs within the premetastatic liver and tumor, and M1 versus M2 polarization of liver and tumor macrophage populations, respectively. Within the tumor, expanded Treg clones were uniquely abundant, and while expanded clones could be tracked to the blood and premetastatic liver, many of these mapped back to known viral antigens. Leveraging previously validated gene sets, we show how these can be applied to predict the tumor reactivity of intratumoral T cells using transcriptional signatures. We demonstrated a high degree of concordance between multiple independent signatures and tracked high-priority TCRs within the blood and liver.

conclusionThis study demonstrates the feasibility of a platform, which has already been implemented into ongoing clinical protocols, for immune profiling of human PDAC across the sites most relevant to metastatic progression. Future applications of this work can monitor immune populations throughout metastatic progression to build a temporal database of immune phenotypes and track association with clinical outcomes.

Indexed as

Carcinoma, Pancreatic DuctalLiver NeoplasmsPancreatic NeoplasmsSingle-Cell AnalysisBiomarkers, TumorFemaleHumansMaleBiomarkers, TumorPDACPre-metastatic liverSingle cell RNAseqT cell clonalityTCR

Identifiers

PMID40848148
PMCPMC12374926

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.