CD39 identifies a specific CD8+T cell population in EGFR- driven lung adenocarcinoma related metastatic pleural effusion

Abstract

Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is common in lung cancer, which was a complex microenvironment containing a plethora of immune and tumor signals. Gene alterations such as driver gene mutations were considered to affect the components in the TIME of non-small-cell lung cancer （NSCLC）. Here, we demonstrated that pleural CD39+CD8+T cells were selectively elevated in firstly-diagnosed lung adenocarcinoma with wild-type epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFRwt) compared to that in mutant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFRmu), while abnormally more represented in MPE with epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor acquired resistance (AR-EGFR-TKI). Analysis showed that pleural CD39+CD8+T cells display exhausted phenotype and potential cytolytic function, together with skewed usages of T cell receptor (TCR)-Vβ repertoire in comparison with CD39-CD8+T cells, which constituted common feature of lung adenocarcinoma related MPE. Further study revealed TCR-Vβ diversity tended to be more enhanced in pleural CD39+CD8+T cell from MPE coupled with AR-EGFR-TKI. Taken together, we have identified a subset of CD8+T cells expressing CD39 in MPE, whom proposed as the potential tumor-reactive CD8+T cells, and further provided a new understanding of dynamic immune composition of EGFR-mutant tumor microenvironment.