Journal: Cell Reports Medicine
Article Title: Tumor-specific but immunosuppressive CD39 + CD8 + T cells exhibit double-faceted roles in clear cell renal cell carcinoma
doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2025.102360
Figure Lengend Snippet: CD39 + CD8 + T cell-enriched ccRCC tumors are characterized by higher TMB and enhanced hypoxic status (A) Proportions of CD39 + cells among CD8 + TILs across various cancer types: breast ( n = 131), liver ( n = 24), ovary ( n = 17), stomach ( n = 32), head and neck ( n = 19), melanoma ( n = 6), papillary RCC ( n = 7), chromophobe RCC ( n = 9), and ccRCC ( n = 112). (B–F) WES data of 31 patients with RCC (ccRCC, n = 21; non-ccRCC, n = 10). (B) Summary of somatic mutation and copy-number variation of select genes, clinical information, and flow cytometry data. Bar plots at the top represent the TMB for each patient. The central heatmap displays the top 20 genes with the highest frequency of single-nucleotide variant (SNV) mutations across all samples, ordered by prevalence. Mutation types are color-coded based on SNV/INDEL categories and copy-number variations as indicated in the left. Clinical characteristics are shown directly beneath the mutation matrix. At the bottom, a heatmap represents flow cytometry-based immune profiling data. (C) Proportion of CD39 + cells among CD8 + TILs according to the histology of RCC. (D) Number of frameshift insertions and deletions (fsINDELs; left), and non-synonymous single-nucleotide variants (nsSNV) per megabase pair (right) according to the histology of RCC. (E) Number of nsSNV per megabase pair in ccRCC according to CD39 expression level on CD8 + TILs: CD39 + low ( n = 10) and CD39 + high ( n = 11). (F) Proportion of samples with SNV (left), copy-number loss (middle), and copy-number gain (right) in VHL gene according to the histology of RCC. (G and H) WTS data of 18 patients with RCC (ccRCC, n = 15; non-ccRCC, n = 3). (G) Heatmap showing gene set variation analysis (GSVA) scores for hypoxia-related gene sets in each patient, stratified by CD39 + CD8 + T cell proportion (CD39 + low, n = 9 vs. CD39 + high, n = 9). Tumor stage and histology are annotated above the heatmap, as defined in (B). (H) Boxplots comparing GSVA scores for hypoxia-related gene sets between the two groups. (I) Expression of a hypoxic marker was assessed using Hypoxia Green Reagent, a dye that measures oxygen levels, by flow cytometry in CD39 – CD8 + TILs and CD39 + CD8 + TILs ( n = 8). The relative expression was calculated based on the mean fluorescence intensity. Data are represented as median with interquartile range; whiskers indicate the minimum and maximum values (A, C, D, E, and H). ∗ p < 0.05, ∗∗ p < 0.01, ∗∗∗ p < 0.001, and ∗∗∗∗ p < 0.0001 by two-sided Mann-Whitney U test (A, C, D, E, and H) and Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test (I).
Article Snippet: Tissue sections were then blocked with Akoya blocking buffer for 10 min. Primary antibodies against CD8 (1:2000, clone C8/144B, Invitrogen, MA5-13473) and CD39 (1:6000, clone EPR20627 , Abcam, ab223842) were sequentially applied in distinct staining cycles, each incubated for 1 h at room temperature, followed by washing in TBST (Tris-buffered saline with 0.05% Tween 20).
Techniques: Mutagenesis, Flow Cytometry, Variant Assay, Expressing, Marker, Fluorescence, MANN-WHITNEY