Prognostic roles for IL-2-producing and CD69⁺ T cell subsets in colorectal cancer patients

Tumor infiltrating T cells are a predictor of patient outcome in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). However, many T cell populations have been associated with both poor and positive patient prognoses, indicating a need to further understand the role of different T cell subsets in CRC. In this study, the T cell infiltrate from the tumor and nontumor bowel (NTB) was examined in 95 CRC patients using flow cytometry and associations with cancer stage and disease recurrence made. Our findings showed that IFN-γ-producing T cells were associated with positive patient outcomes, and CD69⁺ T cells were associated with disease recurrence. Inflammatory (IL-17) and regulatory T cells were not associated with disease recurrence. Surprisingly, in a second cohort of 32 patients with long-term clinical follow up data, tumor infiltrating IL-2-producing T cells correlated negatively with disease free survival (DFS) and a higher frequency of IL-2-producing T cells was found in the NTB of patients with poorly differentiated tumors. These results point toward the possibility of a negative impact of IL-2 in tumor immune responses, which may influence future immunotherapy treatments in CRC patients.