• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: The Transmembrane Receptor TIRC7 Identifies a Distinct Subset of Immune Cells with Prognostic Implications in Cholangiocarcinoma
  • Contributor: Albrecht, Thomas; Goeppert, Benjamin; Brinkmann, Fritz; Charbel, Alphonse; Zhang, Qiangnu; Schreck, Johannes; Wilhelm, Nina; Singer, Stephan; Köhler, Bruno C.; Springfeld, Christoph; Mehrabi, Arianeb; Schirmacher, Peter; Kühl, Anja A.; Vogel, Monika N.; Jansen, Holger; Utku, Nalân; Roessler, Stephanie
  • Published: MDPI AG, 2021
  • Published in: Cancers, 13 (2021) 24, Seite 6272
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.3390/cancers13246272
  • ISSN: 2072-6694
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a heterogeneous malignancy with a dismal prognosis. Therapeutic options are largely limited to surgery and conventional chemotherapy offers limited benefit. As immunotherapy has proven highly effective in various cancer types, we have undertaken a quantitative immunohistopathological assessment of immune cells expressing the immunoinhibitory T cell immune response cDNA 7 receptor (TIRC7), an emerging immunoinhibitory receptor, in a cohort of 135 CCA patients. TIRC7+ immune cells were present in both the tumor epithelia and stroma in the majority of CCA cases with the highest levels found in intrahepatic CCA. While intraepithelial density of TIRC7+ immune cells was decreased compared to matched non-neoplastic bile ducts, stromal quantity was higher in the tumor samples. Tumors exhibiting signet ring cell or adenosquamous morphology were exclusively associated with an intraepithelial TIRC7+ phenotype. Survival analysis showed intraepithelial TIRC7+ immune cell density to be a highly significant favorable prognosticator in intrahepatic but not proximal or distal CCA. Furthermore, intraepithelial TIRC7+ immune cell density correlated with the number of intraepithelial CD8+ immune cells and with the total number of CD4+ immune cells. Our results suggest the presence and prognostic relevance of TIRC7+ immune cells in CCA and warrant further functional studies on its pharmacological modulation.
  • Access State: Open Access