A single-cell atlas reveals immune heterogeneity in anti-PD-1-treated non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Anti-PD-(L)1 treatment is standard for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but patients show variable responses to the same regimen. The tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) is associated with immunotherapy response, yet the heterogeneous underlying therapeutic outcomes remain underexplored. We applied single-cell RNA and TCR sequencing (scRNA/TCR-seq) to analyze surgical tumor samples from 234 NSCLC patients post-neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy. Analyses revealed five distinct TIME subtypes with varying major pathological response (MPR) rates. MPR patients had elevated levels of FGFBP2⁺ NK/NK-like T cells, memory B cells, or effector T cells, while non-MPR patients showed higher CCR8⁺ Tregs. T cell clonal expansion analyses unveiled heterogeneity in non-MPR patients, marked by varying expansions of Tex-relevant cells and CCR8⁺ Tregs. Precursor exhausted T cells (Texp cells) correlated with recurrence-free survival, identifying a patient subgroup with reduced recurrence risk despite lack of MPR. Our study dissects TIME heterogeneity in response to chemoimmunotherapy, offering insights for NSCLC management.