The expression of CD86 in CD3+CD56+ NKT cells is associated with the occurrence and prognosis of sepsis-associated encephalopathy in sepsis patients: a prospective observational cohort study.

The role of CD3+CD56+ natural killer T (NKT) cells and its co-signaling molecules in patients with sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) is unknown. In this prospective observational cohort study, we initially recruited 260 septic patients and eventually analyzed 90 patients, of whom 57 were in the SAE group and 37 were in the non-SAE group. Compared to the non-SAE group, 28-day mortality was significantly increased in the SAE group (33.3% vs. 12.1%, p = 0.026), while the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of CD86 in CD3+CD56+ NKT cells was significantly lower (2065.8 (1625.5 ~ 3198.8) vs. 3117.8 (2278.1 ~ 5349), p = 0.007). Multivariate analysis showed that MFI of CD86 in NKT cells, APACHE II score, and serum albumin were independent risk factors for SAE. Furthermore, the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that the mortality rate was significantly higher in the high-risk group than in the low-risk group (χ2 = 14.779, p < 0.001). This study showed that the decreased expression of CD86 in CD3+CD56+ NKT cells is an independent risk factor of SAE; thus, a prediction model including MFI of CD86 in NKT cells, APACHE II score, and serum albumin can be constructed for diagnosing SAE and predicting prognosis.

Clinical significance of flow cytometry in detection of minimal residual disease in cerebrospinal fluid. / è„‘è„Šæ¶²æµå¼ç»†èƒžæœ¯æ£€æµ‹å¾®å°æ®‹ç•™ç— çš„ä¸´åºŠæ„ä¹‰.

OBJECTIVES: Central nervous system leukemia (CNSL) is one of the main causes of recurrence and death in patients with acute leukemia. This study aims to dynamically monitor minimal residual disease (MRD) in cerebrospinal fluid and bone marrow of patients with different types of acute leukemia by flow cytometry (FCM), and to compare the timeliness and consistency of MRD detection between the 2 methods to further explore the application value of monitoring MRD in cerebrospinal fluid. METHODS: A total of 199 patients with acute leukemia admitted to the Guangdong Provincial people's Hospital between October 2018 and January 2022 were retrospectively analyzed, and multiparametric FCM method was adopted to summarize and analyze MRD in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with different types of leukemia and MRD in cerebrospinal fluid and bone marrow specimens of the same patients, and its role in assessing the prognostic value of patients was discussed. RESULTS: Among the 199 acute leukemia cases, a total of 31 cases (15.58%) were positive MRD in the cerebrospinal fluid, of which 18 cases (58%) were detected earlier than the corresponding bone marrow specimens. Among the 19 patients with acute T lymphoblastic leukemia, 134 patients with acute B lymphoblastic leukemia, and 46 patients with acute myeloid leukemia counted, there were 4, 18, and 9 patients with positive MRD in the cerebrospinal fluid. The Kappa value of the concordance test between the results of cerebrospinal fluid MRD and bone marrow MRD in different types of acute leukemia was only 0.156, demonstrating a low concordance between them. CONCLUSIONS: Dynamic monitoring of cerebrospinal fluid MRD by FCM can be used as a monitoring index for central nervous system leukemia, and monitoring cerebrospinal fluid can detect MRD earlier compared with bone marrow, which complements each other as a sensitive index for evaluating prognosis with significant guidance in clinic.

Increased TIGIT expressing NK cells with dysfunctional phenotype in AML patients correlated with poor prognosis.

AML is the most common blood cancer in adults with a high relapse and an overall poor survival rate. NK cells have been demonstrated to have the capacity to eradicate AML blast, and an impaired NK cell function is involved in AML development and progression. Immune checkpoints are involved in immune escape in various cancers. Immune checkpoints blockade therapy mainly aimed to unleash CD8+T cells function, but NK cells have emerged as new target. However, immune checkpoints profile on NK cells has not been observed in AML patients. Here, we studied the immune checkpoints expression of NK cells from AML patients at initial diagnosis and found increased PD-1, TIGIT and TIM-3 expression compared to NK cells from healthy donors. Further analysis showed that TIGIT expressing NK cells from AML patients had a dysfunctional phenotype, as TIGIT+NK cells exhibit lower antileukemia effect, cytokine production and degranulation compared to TIGIT-NK cells. TIGIT blockade could significantly enhance the function of NK cells. Moreover, AML patients with high frequency of TIGIT+NK cells had higher frequency of poor prognosis risk. Further analysis found that IL-10 upregulated TIGIT expression on NK cells. Thus, TIGIT blockade alone or in combination with other therapy might be potential strategy to treat AML.