ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Oncol.

Sec. Cancer Molecular Targets and Therapeutics

Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1593329

This article is part of the Research TopicNovel Molecular Targets in Cancer TherapyView all 35 articles

CD4 T Cells Correlate With Better Prognosis in Medulloblastoma

Provisionally accepted
Jin  ZhangJin Zhang1Siqi  RenSiqi Ren1Shuting  LiShuting Li1Yuan  WangYuan Wang1Lulu  WanLulu Wan1Wenchao  GaoWenchao Gao1Huaying  SunHuaying Sun1Xiaojun  GongXiaojun Gong1Miao  LiMiao Li1Yanling  SunYanling Sun1Liming  SunLiming Sun1Zhigang  LIZhigang LI2Tianyou  WangTianyou Wang2Shuxu  DuShuxu Du1*Wanshui  WuWanshui Wu1*
  • 1Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
  • 2Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Objective: In this study, we examined the infiltration characteristics of T cells in medulloblastoma tissues and analyzed the correlation between T cells and the clinical outcomes of medulloblastoma patients. Additionally, we further investigated the relationship between T cells and TAMs.We enrolled a total of 72 patients diagnosed with medulloblastoma and subsequently detected the T cell makers and programmed death 1/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) in paraffin-embedded sections using multiple immunofluorescence staining method. The correlation between T cell infiltration, clinical characteristics and prognosis were analyzed. Finally, we used Spearman correlation analysis to evaluate the correlation between T cells and TAMs.The median age at diagnosis of 72 patients (54 boys, 18 girls) was 7.5 years (range: 0.8-18 years). Twenty-five cases presented with metastasis at diagnosis, while 47 cases were without metastasis. Thirteen cases exhibited with high-risk genetic abnormalities. The total T cells (P = 0.031) and CD4 T cells (P = 0.045) were significantly elevated in the SHH subgroup compared to those in the non-WNT/non-SHH subgroup. Patients with increaed CD4 T cells had better 5-year PFS (P = 0.000) and OS (P = 0.001), while patients without metastasis showed better 5-year PFS (P = 0.031) and OS (P = 0.015). Multivariate analysis showed that CD4 T cells were an independent prognostic factor affecting both the 5-year PFS (P = 0.004, HR = 0.230, 95% CI = 0.085-0.662) and OS (P = 0.017, HR = 0.180, 95% CI = 0.044-0.739). Additionally, it was observed that CD4 T cells exhibited a positive correlation with Mtotal (total macrophages) (P < 0.05, r = 0.249) and Mmix (M1/M2 mixed phenotype macrophages) (P < 0.01, r = 0.325), and CD3 + CD8 + PD-1 + cells showed a positive correlation with Mmix (P < 0.05, r = 0.258).The increase in CD4 T cells predicts a better prognosis in medulloblastoma patients, particularly within the SHH and non-WNT/non-SHH subgroups, and they may serve as a potential therapeutic target for medulloblastoma. Additionally, there may be a potential interaction between CD4 T cells and TAMs that warrants further investigation.

Keywords: Medulloblastoma, CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells, Programmed death 1, Programmed cell death-ligand 1, prognosis

Received: 13 Mar 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Ren, Li, Wang, Wan, Gao, Sun, Gong, Li, Sun, Sun, LI, Wang, Du and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Shuxu Du, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
Wanshui Wu, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

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