Diversity of Tumor-Infiltrating, γδ T-Cell Abundance in Solid Cancers

gamma delta T-cells contribute to the immune response against many tumor types through their direct cytolytic functions and their capacity to recruit and regulate the biological functions of other immune cells. As potent effectors of the anti-tumor immune response, they are considered an attractive therapeutic target for immunotherapies, but their presence and abundance in the tumor microenvironment are not routinely assessed in patients with cancer. Here, we validated an antibody for immunohistochemistry analysis that specifically detects all gamma delta T-cell subpopulations in healthy tissues and in the microenvironment of different cancer types. Tissue microarray analysis of breast, colon, ovarian, and pancreatic tumors showed that gamma delta T-cell density varies among cancer types. Moreover, the abundance of gamma delta tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes was variably associated with the outcome depending on the cancer type, suggesting that gamma delta T-cell recruitment is influenced by the context. These findings also suggest that gamma delta T-cell detection and analysis might represent a new and interesting diagnostic or prognostic marker.