Exploration of Immunology

Table 1. Demographic and clinical characteristics of NSCLC patients

Demographic and clinical data	Number and percentage (%)
Total of patients	18 (100%)
Sex
Male	12 (66.7%)
Female	6 (33.3%)
Histologic subtype
Adenocarcinoma	11 (61.1%)
Squamous cell carcinoma	4 (22.2%)
NSCLC	3 (16.7%)
ECOG status
ECOG status 0	5 (27.8%)
ECOG status 1	11 (61.1%)
ECOG status 2	2 (11.1%)
Response to first-line treatment
Complete response	2 (11.1%)
Partial response	4 (22.2%)
Stable disease	11 (61.1%)
Progressive disease	1 (5.6%)

Return to article view

The proportion of patients in each category indicated was calculated from the total absolute number of patients in this study. ECOG: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group; NSCLC: non-small cell lung cancer

Note. Adapted from “Thymic Polypeptide Fraction Biomodulina T Decreases Exhausted and Terminally Differentiated EMRA T Cells in Advanced Lung Cancer Patients Treated With Platinum-Based Chemotherapy” by Suárez GM, Catalá M, Peña Y, Portela S, Añé-Kourí AL, González A, et al. Front Oncol. 2022;12:823287 (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2022.823287/full). CC BY.

Declarations

Acknowledgments

The authors are extremely thankful to patients and their relatives who so valuably supported this research. The authors are also grateful for the participation of physicians, nurses, and colleagues at the Medical & Surgical Research Center. Thanks to Dr. Mays Abuhantash, Aya Zeid Zakaria, and Dr. Syed Mazher Hussain for their contributions in reviewing this manuscript and providing their valuable comments. The authors also thank the Center for Molecular Immunology for supporting the completion of this study.

Author contributions

GMS: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. MC, YP, and SP: Methodology, Project administration. ALA-K and AL: Conceptualization, Writing—review & editing, Supervision. AG: Resources. PL-L: Software. MD and MM: Methodology, Project administration. KP: Resources, Investigation. JH: Investigation. MCR: Conceptualization, Writing—review & editing. NL, ZM, and TC: Supervision, Writing—review & editing. AB-H: Writing—review & editing. DS: Conceptualization, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Investigation, Software, Supervision, Writing—review & editing. All authors read and approved the submitted version.

Conflicts of interest

The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

The Biomodulina T- CIMAvax-EGF-Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer-Adults was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the participating hospitals and by the National Regulatory Authority in Cuba. The research protocol is registered in https://rpcec.sld.cu/en/trials/RPCEC00000358-En, the Cuban Public Registry of Clinical Trial (Spanish acronym: RPCEC). The study was done in compliance with the principles of Good Clinical Practices (according to the International Conference of Harmonization) and the Declaration of Helsinki (2013).

Consent to participate

Informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from all participants.

Consent to publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this manuscript will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation, to any qualified researcher. The research protocol is available at https://rpcec.sld.cu/en/trials/RPCEC00000358-En, the Cuban Public Registry of Clinical Trial (Spanish acronym: RPCEC).

Funding

Not applicable.

Copyright

References

Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, Laversanne M, Soerjomataram I, Jemal A, et al. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2021;71:209–49. [DOI] [PubMed]

Dama E, Melocchi V, Dezi F, Pirroni S, Carletti RM, Brambilla D, et al. An Aggressive Subtype of Stage I Lung Adenocarcinoma with Molecular and Prognostic Characteristics Typical of Advanced Lung Cancers. Clin Cancer Res. 2017;23:62–72. [DOI] [PubMed]

Oser MG, Niederst MJ, Sequist LV, Engelman JA. Transformation from non-small-cell lung cancer to small-cell lung cancer: molecular drivers and cells of origin. Lancet Oncol. 2015;16:e165–72. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

Miller KD, Nogueira L, Mariotto AB, Rowland JH, Yabroff KR, Alfano CM, et al. Cancer treatment and survivorship statistics, 2019. CA Cancer J Clin. 2019;69:363–85. [DOI] [PubMed]

Aunan JR, Cho WC, Søreide K. The Biology of Aging and Cancer: A Brief Overview of Shared and Divergent Molecular Hallmarks. Aging Dis. 2017;8:628–42. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

Fulop T, Larbi A, Kotb R, Pawelec G. Immunology of aging and cancer development. Interdiscip Top Gerontol. 2013;38:38–48. [DOI] [PubMed]

Hanahan D. Hallmarks of Cancer: New Dimensions. Cancer Discov. 2022;12:31–46. [DOI] [PubMed]

Franceschi C, Bonafè M, Valensin S, Olivieri F, Luca MD, Ottaviani E, et al. Inflamm-aging: An evolutionary perspective on immunosenescence. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2000;908:244–54. [DOI] [PubMed]

Fulop T, Larbi A, Dupuis G, Page AL, Frost EH, Cohen AA, et al. Immunosenescence and Inflamm-Aging As Two Sides of the Same Coin: Friends or Foes? Front Immunol. 2018;8:1960. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

10.

Kared H, Martelli S, Ng TP, Pender SLF, Larbi A. CD57 in human natural killer cells and T-lymphocytes. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2016;65:441–52. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

11.

Brenchley JM, Karandikar NJ, Betts MR, Ambrozak DR, Hill BJ, Crotty LE, et al. Expression of CD57 defines replicative senescence and antigen-induced apoptotic death of CD8⁺T cells. Blood. 2003;101:2711–20. [DOI] [PubMed]

12.

Nielsen CM, White MJ, Goodier MR, Riley EM. Functional Significance of CD57 Expression on Human NK Cells and Relevance to Disease. Front Immunol. 2013;4:422. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

13.

Strioga M, Pasukoniene V, Characiejus D. CD8⁺CD28⁻and CD8⁺CD57⁺T cells and their role in health and disease. Immunology. 2011;134:17–32. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

14.

Suárez GM, Añé-Kourí AL, González A, Lorenzo-Luaces P, Neninger E, Salomón EE, et al. Associations among cytokines, EGF and lymphocyte subpopulations in patients diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2021;70:1735–43. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

15.

Suárez GM, Catalá M, Peña Y, Portela S, Añé-Kourí AL, González A, et al. Thymic Polypeptide Fraction Biomodulina T Decreases Exhausted and Terminally Differentiated EMRA T Cells in Advanced Lung Cancer Patients Treated With Platinum-Based Chemotherapy. Front Oncol. 2022;12:823287. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

16.

Saavedra D, Fuertes SA, Suárez GM, González A, Lorenzo-Luaces P, García B, et al. Biomodulina T partially restores immunosenescent CD4 and CD8 T cell compartments in the elderly. Exp Gerontol. 2019;124:110633. [DOI] [PubMed]

17.

Villegas-Valverde CA, Kokuina E, Breff-Fonseca MC. Estimating Normal Values of Rare T-Lymphocyte Populations in Peripheral Blood of Healthy Cuban Adults. MEDICC Rev. 2018;20:20–6. [DOI] [PubMed]

18.

Kokuina E, Breff-Fonseca MC, Villegas-Valverde CA, Mora-Díaz I. Normal Values of T, B and NK Lymphocyte Subpopulations in Peripheral Blood of Healthy Cuban Adults. MEDICC Rev. 2019;21:16–21. [DOI] [PubMed]

19.

Javeed A, Ashraf M, Riaz A, Ghafoor A, Afzal S, Mukhtar MM. Paclitaxel and immune system. Eur J Pharm Sci. 2009;38:283–90. [DOI] [PubMed]

20.

Verma R, Foster RE, Horgan K, Mounsey K, Nixon H, Smalle N, et al. Lymphocyte depletion and repopulation after chemotherapy for primary breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 2016;18:10. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

21.

Aldarouish M, Su X, Qiao J, Gao C, Chen Y, Dai A, et al. Immunomodulatory effects of chemotherapy on blood lymphocytes and survival of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2019;33. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

22.

Lopez-Vergès S, Milush JM, Pandey S, York VA, Arakawa-Hoyt J, Pircher H, et al. CD57 defines a functionally distinct population of mature NK cells in the human CD56^dimCD16⁺NK-cell subset. Blood. 2010;116:3865–74. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

23.

Sun JC, Lopez-Verges S, Kim CC, DeRisi JL, Lanier LL. NK cells and immune “memory”. J Immunol. 2011;186:1891–7. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

24.

Forconi CS, Oduor CI, Oluoch PO, Ong’echa JM, Münz C, Bailey JA, et al. A New Hope for CD56^negCD16^posNK Cells as Unconventional Cytotoxic Mediators: An Adaptation to Chronic Diseases. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2020;10:162. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

25.

Marini A, Avino D, Donno MD, Romano F, Morganti R. Percentages and Absolute Numbers of CD4+CD8+ Double-positive T Lymphocytes in the Peripheral Blood of Normal Italian Subjects: Relationship with Age and Sex. Turk J Haematol. 2020;37:125–6. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

26.

Bohner P, Chevalier MF, Cesson V, Rodrigues-Dias S, Dartiguenave F, Burruni R, et al. Double Positive CD4⁺CD8⁺T Cells Are Enriched in Urological Cancers and Favor T Helper-2 Polarization. Front Immunol. 2019;10:622. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]

27.

King R, Tuthill C. Chapter Seven - Immune Modulation with Thymosin Alpha 1 Treatment. Vitam Horm. 2016;102:151–78. [DOI] [PubMed]

28.

Sugahara S, Ichida T, Yamagiwa S, Ishikawa T, Uehara K, Yoshida Y, et al. Thymosin-α1 increases intrahepatic NKT cells and CTLs in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Hepatol Res. 2002;24:346–54. [DOI] [PubMed]

29.

Ramos EH, Suárez VM, Hernández IC, Gomez RP, Rivera DG, Zamora MCR, et al. Effect of Biomodulina-T® and VA-MENGOC-BC® on lymphocyte subpopulations in older adults. Exp Gerontol. 2021;153:111497. [DOI] [PubMed] [PMC]