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Immunohistochemical Staining of B7-H1 PD-L1 on Paraffin-embedded Slides of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Tissue
Published on: January 3, 2013
Elevated SAMD3 expression in T cells predicts improved survival in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients
Lingyi Fu1,2, Enliang Zhou1,3, Shuo Li1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
Objective:
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has an immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment that contributes to resistance to immunotherapy. This study aimed to demonstrate that elevated sterile alpha motif domain-containing protein 3 (SAMD3) expression in effector CD8+ T cells was associated with improved survival in PDAC patients.
Design:
We investigated the heterogeneity and gene expression profiles of T cells using a single-cell RNA sequencing (sc-RNA-seq) dataset comprised of human PDAC samples. SAMD3 mRNA expression was further evaluated in a tumor-specific OT-I/ovalbumin (OVA) mouse model. SAMD3 levels and their clinical significance were evaluated via immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis.
Results:
SAMD3 was highly expressed in cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, with expression significantly downregulated during T cell exhaustion. SAMD3 levels were positively correlated with CD8+ T cell function. In PDAC patients, high SAMD3 levels in T cells were associated with improved overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and T cell infiltration. A patient exhibiting partial response to combination immunotherapy also showed high SAMD3 levels in T cells.
Conclusion:
SAMD3 is a biomarker of T cell function, with elevated expression in T cells predicting improved survival. These findings highlight the potential of precision immunotherapy approaches for treating PDAC.
