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Clinical Studies

Enlarged tumour-draining lymph node with immune-activated profile predict favourable survival in non-metastatic colorectal cancer

British Journal of Cancer volume 130, pages 31–42 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background

The tumour-draining lymph node (TDLN) plays a pivotal role in the suppression of malignant tumour, however, the immunological profile and prognostic differences between large TDLN (L-TDLN) and small TDLN (S-TDLN) in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unclear.

Methods

We conducted a study using data from the Chinese National Cancer Center (CNCC) database, identifying 837 CRC patients with non-metastatic TDLN, and categorised them into L-TDLN and S-TDLN groups. The long-term survival outcomes and adjuvant therapy efficacy were compared between the two groups. Furthermore, we evaluated the differences in immune activation status and immune cell subsets between patients in L-TDLN and S-TDLN groups by RNA sequencing and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining.

Results

Patients with L-TDLN demonstrated better long-term outcomes compared to those with S-TDLN. Among patients with L-TDLN, there was no significant difference in long-term outcomes between those who received adjuvant chemotherapy and those who did not. The RNA sequencing data revealed a wealth of immune-activating pathways explored in L-TDLN. Furthermore, IHC analysis demonstrated higher numbers of CD3+ and CD8 + T cells in L-TDLN and the corresponding CRC lesions, as compared to patients with S-TDLN.

Conclusion

Enlarged TDLN exhibited an activated anti-tumour immune profile and may serve as an indicator for favourable survival in non-metastatic CRC.

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Fig. 1: Workflow of this study about L-TDLN with immune-activated profile in CRC.
Fig. 2: The survival analysis between L-TDLN and S-TDLN group in the CNCC database.
Fig. 3: The analysis on potential biological mechanisms between L-TDLN and S-TDLN group.
Fig. 4: Different characteristics of immune microenvironment cell infiltration between L-TDLN and S-TDLN group.

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Data availability

The raw CRC patients’ information used in this paper are available from the lead contact upon request. RNA-seq and IHC data are available from the authors on reasonable request and approval of data sharing by institutional review boards. Correspondence for materials should be addressed to the lead contact. Any additional information required to reanalyse the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors have not acknowledgement to make.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Key R&D Program for Young Scientists (Grant Number: 2022YFC2505700), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 82100598), Beijing Hope Run Special Fund of Cancer Foundation of China (LC2021A23) and the Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen (Grant Number: No. SZSM201911012).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Xu Guan, Pu Cheng, Ran Wei.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Colorectal Surgery, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/ Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    Xu Guan, Pu Cheng, Ran Wei, Zhixun Zhao, Haipeng Chen, Zheng Liu, Zheng Jiang, Zhaoxu Zheng & Xishan Wang

  2. Department of Colorectal Surgery, Shanxi Province Cancer Hospital/Hospital Affiliated to Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences/Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China

    Xu Guan, Shuai Jiao & Xishan Wang

  3. Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Ran Wei

  4. Department of Pathology, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

    Jiangtao Li & Shuangmei Zou

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Contributions

Conceptualisation: XSW, SMZ, ZXZ, ZJ and XG; methodology: XG, PC and RW.; formal analysis: XG, PC and RW; resources: XG, PC, RW, JTL, SJ, ZXZ, HPC and ZL; writing—original draft: XG, PC and RW; writing—review and editing: XG, PC and RW; funding acquisition: XSW, SMZ, ZXZ, ZJ and XG; supervision: XSW, SMZ, ZXZ, ZJ and XG.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zheng Jiang, Zhaoxu Zheng, Shuangmei Zou or Xishan Wang.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (Approval ID: 23/139–3881). The access to and use of SEER data did not require informed patient consent.

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Guan, X., Cheng, P., Wei, R. et al. Enlarged tumour-draining lymph node with immune-activated profile predict favourable survival in non-metastatic colorectal cancer. Br J Cancer 130, 31–42 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-023-02473-x

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