Open Access

ARTICLE

Immune checkpoint receptors and their ligands on CD8 T cells and myeloma cells in extramedullary multiple myeloma

XIAN ZHANG¹, ZHUANG ZHOU², JUNZHE WANG¹, MENGMENG HAN¹, HAN LIU¹, MEIRONG ZANG¹, JIANNING LIU¹, JIAPEI LU¹, JINQIAO ZHANG¹, GUOCHUAN ZHANG^2,*, LIXIA SUN^1,#,*

1 Department of Hematology, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, 050051, China
2 Department of Bone and Soft Tissue Oncology, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, 050051, China

* Corresponding Authors: GUOCHUAN ZHANG. Email: ; LIXIA SUN. Email:
# Lead contact

BIOCELL 2024, 48(2), 303-311. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2023.046640

Received 09 October 2023; Accepted 05 December 2023; Issue published 23 February 2024

Abstract

Background: Prognosis of multiple myeloma (MM) patients with extramedullary disease (EMD) remains poor. T cell dysfunction and an immunosuppressive environment have been reported in the bone marrow (BM) of MM patients. However, the immunosuppressive microenvironment and immune checkpoint receptors (ICRs) on CD8 T cells in the EMD tissue of newly diagnosed MM (NDMM) patients have not been thoroughly studied. Methods: We investigated the expression levels of T cell immunoglobulin mucin-domain-containing-3 (TIM-3) and T-cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domain (TIGIT) on CD8 T cells and the expression of their ligands (Galectin-9 and CD155) on myeloma cells in EMD tissue of NDMM patients. The expression levels of TIM-3 and TIGIT on T cells and their ligands (Galectin-9 and CD155) on myeloma cells were analyzed by multicolored fluorescent flow cytometry in the peripheral blood (PB), BM, and EMD tissue. Additionally, the expression of ICRs was compared among PB, BM, and EMD tissue. Results: The expression levels of TIGIT and TIM-3 on CD8 T cell subsets, including CD8 Naïve T (T) cells and CD8 terminally differentiated effector memory T (T) cells, were significantly higher in EMD than in PB ( < 0.05 for all). The expression levels of TIGIT and TIM-3 on CD8 T cells were higher in EMD than in BM ( < 0.05 for all). There were no differences in Galectin-9 and CD155 expression on myeloma cells among PB, BM, and EMD tissue. Conclusion: Our data add new evidence that T cells express increased TIGIT and TIM-3, suggesting that there may be T-cell exhaustion in EMD of patients with MM.

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Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material File

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