Distinct mutation landscape with similar immune microenvironment in primary simultaneous operable squamous cell...

Patients with both primary simultaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SQ) and peripheral-type small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) are extremely rare clinically, and an in-depth molecular characterization and tumor microenvironment (TME) analysis are urgently needed. This study aimed to characterize the mutational landscape, epigenetic features, and immune microenvironment of simultaneous primary SQ and peripheral-type SCLC in operable patients.

This single-center study included three surgically treated patients with simultaneous ipsilateral early-stage primary SQ and peripheral-type SCLC at Shanghai Chest Hospital during 2017-2019, with follow-up through 2024. Clinical data were obtained from medical records, and primary SQ, primary SCLC, metastatic lymph node, and paired normal tissues were analyzed by whole-exome sequencing, DNA methylation profiling, and multiplex immunofluorescence.

Mutations in primary SQ and SCLC showed obvious mutual exclusion and clear evolutionary relationships with the corresponding metastatic lymphadenectases. Genes mutated in the lymphadenectases were enriched mainly in ECM-related functional terms. DNA methylation profiling revealed overlapping and unique different methylated regions (DMRs) in SQ and SCLC and predicted similar TMEs in primary SQ and SCLC. More immune infiltration in metastatic lymphadenectases was predicted by DNA methylation profiling than in primary lung tumors (SQ and SCLC) and similar results were validated by the results of mIF. DNA methylation profiling and mIF results further revealed that there were more immune cells in the metastatic lymph nodes from two patients with SCLC with better overall survival compared to those from one patient with SQ.

In summary, these results provide a theoretical basis for the occurrence and treatment of this type of rare tumor pair.