B cell-related gene signature and cancer immunotherapy response

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND B lymphocytes have multifaceted functions in the tumour microenvironment, and their prognostic role in human cancers is controversial. Here we aimed to identify tumour

microenvironmental factors that influence the prognostic effects of B cells. METHODS We conducted a gene expression analysis of 3585 patients for whom the clinical outcome information was

available. We further investigated the clinical relevance for predicting immunotherapy response. RESULTS We identified a novel B cell-related gene (BCR) signature consisting of nine cytokine

signalling genes whose high expression could diminish the beneficial impact of B cells on patient prognosis. In triple-negative breast cancer, higher B cell abundance was associated with

favourable survival only when the BCR signature was low (HR = 0.68, _p_ = 0.0046). By contrast, B cell abundance had no impact on prognosis when the BCR signature was high (HR = 0.93, _p_ = 

0.80). This pattern was consistently observed across multiple cancer types including lung, colorectal, and melanoma. Further, the BCR signature predicted response to immune checkpoint

blockade in metastatic melanoma and compared favourably with the established markers. CONCLUSIONS The prognostic impact of tumour-infiltrating B cells depends on the status of cytokine

signalling genes, which together could predict response to cancer immunotherapy. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your

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CANCER MICROENVIRONMENTS Article 29 June 2021 ESTABLISHING A PROGNOSTIC MODEL WITH IMMUNE-RELATED GENES AND INVESTIGATING _EPHB6_ EXPRESSION PATTERN IN BREAST CANCER Article Open access 24

February 2025 A BALANCE SCORE BETWEEN IMMUNE STIMULATORY AND SUPPRESSIVE MICROENVIRONMENTS IDENTIFIES MEDIATORS OF TUMOUR IMMUNITY AND PREDICTS PAN-CANCER SURVIVAL Article Open access 05

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AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA Arian Lundberg, Bailiang Li & Ruijiang Li * Department of Radiation

Oncology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA Arian Lundberg Authors * Arian Lundberg View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * Bailiang Li View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ruijiang Li View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS AL and RL contributed to the study concept and design. AL contributed to the acquisition and analyses of data. All authors interpreted the data and did

the manuscript drafting and critical revision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Ruijiang Li. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS

The authors declare no competing interests. ETHICS APPROVAL AND CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE Publicly available data—not applicable. CONSENT FOR PUBLICATION Publicly available data—not

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Lundberg, A., Li, B. & Li, R. B cell-related gene signature and cancer immunotherapy response. _Br J Cancer_ 126, 899–906 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-021-01674-6 Download

citation * Received: 24 July 2021 * Revised: 24 November 2021 * Accepted: 09 December 2021 * Published: 17 December 2021 * Issue Date: 01 April 2022 * DOI:

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