Increased frequencies of circulating and tumor-resident Vδ1 T cells in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Abstract : Gamma-delta (γδ) T cells contribute to the innate immune response against cancer. In samples of 20 patients upon DLBCL diagnosis, we found that Vδ1 T cells were the major γδ T cell subset in tumors and PBMCs of patients, while Vδ2 T cells were preponderant in PBMCs of healthy subjects. Interestingly, the germinal center (GC) subtype was associated with an increase in Vδ1 T cells in tumors, whereas the non-GC subtype was associated with a lower frequency of γδ T cells. While circulating Vδ1 T cells of patients or HSs mostly exhibited a naïve phenotype, the majority of tumor Vδ1 T cells showed a central memory phenotype. Resident or circulating γδ T cells from patients were not functionally impaired since they produced high levels of IFN-γ. Collectively, our findings are in favor of γδ T cell activation in tumors and open new perspectives for their modulation in DLBCL immunotherapy.