Dysregulation of peripheral and intratumoral KLRG1+ CD8+ T cells is associated with immune evasion in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer

Objectives Killer cell lectin like receptor G1 (KLRG1) is identified as a co-inhibitory receptor for NK cells and antigen-experienced T cells. The role of KLRG1 in immune regulation in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains poorly understood. Materials and Methods We measured the proportion and immune function of KLRG1+CD8+ T cells derived from peripheral blood in patients with NSCLC by flow cytometry. Besides, using data from the gene expression profiles and single-cell sequencing, we explored the expression and immune role of KLRG1 in tumor tissues of patients with NSCLC. We further determined the prognostic value of KLRG1 in terms of overall survival (OS) in NSCLC patients. Results We found that the proportion of KLRG1+CD8+T cells in peripheral blood significantly increased in patients with NSCLC as compared to those with benign pulmonary nodules and healthy donors. Peripheral KLRG1+CD8+T cell proportion was increased in elder subjects compared to that in younger ones, implying an immunosenescence phenotype. Moreover, the KLRG1+CD8+T cell levels were positively correlated with tumor size and TNM stage in the NSCLC cohort. In vitro stimulation experiments demonstrated that the KLRG1+CD8+T cells from peripheral blood expressed higher levels of Granzyme B and perforin than the KLRG1−CD8+ T cells. However, single-cell RNA sequencing data revealed that the KLRG1+CD8+ T cells were less infiltrated in tumor microenvironment and exhibited impaired cytotoxicity. The KLRG1 gene expression levels were significantly lower in tumor tissues than that in normal lung tissues, and were inversely correlated with CDH1 expression levels. Moreover, higher expression of CDH1 in tumor tissues predicted worse overall survival only in patients with KLRG1-high expression, but not in the KLRG1-low subset. Conclusion This study demonstrates that KLRG1+CD8+T cells were associated with tumor immune evasion in NSCLC and suggests KLRG1 as a potential immunotherapy target.