Bone marrow PD-1 positive T cells reflect tumor mass and prognosis in multiple myeloma

Yali Chang; Yang Jiang; Yun Chen; Xiangling Xing; Yawei Zhou; Tan Sang; Jing Li; Aiping Zhao; Jingwen Zhang; Jun Zhao; Yan Liu; Chengyun Zheng

Bone marrow PD-1 positive T cells reflect tumor mass and prognosis in multiple myeloma

Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2018 Jan 1;11(1):304-313. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Yali Chang^{1

2}, Yang Jiang^{1

3}, Yun Chen², Xiangling Xing^{1

3}, Yawei Zhou², Tan Sang², Jing Li⁴, Aiping Zhao⁵, Jingwen Zhang⁶, Jun Zhao², Yan Liu⁷, Chengyun Zheng^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Hematology, The Second Hospital of Shandong University Jinan 250033, China.
² Department of Hematology, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University Jinan 250013, China.
³ Institute of Biotherapy for Hematologic Malignancies, Shandong University Jinan 250033, China.
⁴ Department of Quality Management, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University Jinan 250013, China.
⁵ Department of Blood Supply, Shandong Blood Center Jinan 250014, China.
⁶ Clinical Hematology and Flow Cytometry Laboratory, Guangzhou Kingmed Center for Clinical Laboratory Limited Corporation Guangzhou 510005, China.
⁷ Clinical Laboratory, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University Jinan 250013, China.

PMID: 31938113
PMCID: PMC6957957

Abstract

Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) negatively regulates T cell effector mechanisms and contributes to tumor cell escape from immune surveillance. To evaluate potential clinical significance of PD-1 in multiple myeloma (MM), we quantified PD-1 expressing T cells in bone marrow (BM) of MM patients using flow cytometry. Our results showed that PD-1 positive T cells in BM from relapsed/refractory patients were significantly higher than those in the newly diagnosed, partial/complete remission MM, and controls, respectively. Additionally, high-risk MM patients had more PD-1 positive T cells in BM than low-risk patients. Moreover, PD-1 positive T cells in relapsed/refractory MM patients were positively associated with myeloma cell counts in BM and clinical stages. PD-1 positive T cells in BM of all MM and relapsed/refractory MM patients were positively correlated with their serum β2-microglobulin concentrations. Our results strongly suggest that PD-1 expressing T cells in BM may be applied as a biomarker to reflect tumor mass and prognosis.

Keywords: Bone marrow; PD-1 positive T cells; biomarker; multiple myeloma; programmed cell death protein 1.