Quantification of Immune Variables from Liquid Biopsy in Breast Cancer Patients Links Vδ2 γδ T Cell Alterations with Lymph Node Invasion.

Summary

The rationale for therapeutic targeting of Vδ2 γδ T cells in breast cancer is strongly supported by in vitro and murine preclinical investigations, characterizing them as potent breast tumor cell killers and source of Th1-related cytokines, backing cytotoxic αβ T cells. Nonetheless, insights regarding Vδ2 γδ T cell phenotypic alterations in human breast cancers are still lacking. This paucity of information is partly due to the challenging scarcity of these cells in surgical specimens. αβ T cell phenotypic alterations occurring in the tumor bed are detectable in the periphery and correlate with adverse clinical outcomes. Thus, we sought to determine through an exploratory study whether Vδ2 γδ T cells phenotypic changes can be detected within breast cancer patients’ peripheral blood, along with association with tumor progression. By using mass cytometry, we quantified 130 immune variables from untreated breast cancer patients’ peripheral blood. Supervised analyses and dimensionality reduction algorithms evidenced circulating Vδ2 γδ T cell phenotypic alterations already established at diagnosis. Foremost, terminally differentiated Vδ2 γδ T cells displaying phenotypes of exhausted senescent T cells associated with lymph node involvement. Thereby, our results support Vδ2 γδ T cells implication in breast cancer pathogenesis and progression, besides shedding light on liquid biopsies to monitor surrogate markers of tumor-infiltrating Vδ2 γδ T cell antitumor activity.