A minority-group of renal cell cancer patients with high infiltration of CD20+B-cells is associated with poor prognosis. Issue 7 (2nd October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sjöberg, Elin; Frödin, Magnus; Lövrot, John; Mezheyeuski, Artur; Johansson, Martin; Harmenberg, Ulrika; Egevad, Lars; Sandström, Per; Östman, Arne
• Is Part Of: British journal of cancer. Volume 119:Issue 7(2018)
• Page Start: 840
• Page End: 846
• Publication Date: 2018-10-02
• Subjects: Cancer -- Periodicals; Cancer -- Research -- Periodicals; Tumors -- Periodicals; 616.994
• DOI: 10.1038/s41416-018-0266-8
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0007-0920

Abstract

Abstract Background The role of B-lymphocytes in solid tumours is unclear. Tumour biology studies have implied both anti- and pro-tumoural effects and prognostic studies have mainly linked B-cells to increased survival. This study aimed to analyse the clinical relevance of B-lymphocytes in renal cell cancer (RCC), where information on the prognostic impact is lacking. Methods Following immunohistochemistry (IHC) stainings with a CD20 antibody, density of CD20+ B-cells was quantified in an RCC discovery- and validation cohort. Associations of B-cell infiltration, determined by CD20 expression or a B-cell gene-signature, and survival was also analysed in 14 publicly available gene expression datasets of cancer, including the kidney clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) dataset. Results IHC analyses of the discovery cohort identified a previously unrecognised subgroup of RCC patients with high infiltration of CD20+ B-cells. The B-cell-high subgroup displayed significantly shorter survival according to uni- and multi-variable analyses. The association between poor prognosis and high density of CD20+ B-cells was confirmed in the validation cohort. Analyses of the KIRC gene expression dataset using the B-cell signature confirmed findings from IHC analyses. Analyses of other gene expression datasets, representing 13 different tumour types, indicated that the poor survival-association of B-cells occurred selectively in RCC. Conclusion This exploratory study identifies a previously unrecognised poor-prognosis subset of RCC with high density of CD20-defined B-cells.