JANG-JAER LEEYeh C.-Y.Jung C.-J.Chen C.-W.Du M.-K.Yu H.-M.Yang C.-J.Lin H.-Y.Sun A.JENG-YUH KOSHIH-JUNG CHENGChang Y.-L.JEAN-SAN CHIA2021-07-072021-07-0720141932-6203https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84899838930&doi=10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0085521&partnerID=40&md5=e2927c569d84e6f4a3926ef83f07336bhttps://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/570128CD8+ T cells play important roles in anti-tumor immunity but distribution profile or functional characteristics of effector memory subsets during tumor progression are unclear. We found that, in oral squamous carcinoma patients, circulating CD8+ T cell pools skewed toward effector memory subsets with the distribution frequency of CCR7-CD45RA -CD8+ T cells and CCR7- CD45RA +CD8+ T cells negatively correlated with each other. A significantly higher frequency of CD127lo CCR7-CD45RA -CD8+ T cells or CCR7-CD45RA +CD8+ T cells among total CD8+ T cells was found in peripheral blood or tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, but not in regional lymph nodes. The CD127hi CCR7-CD45RA-CD8 + T cells or CCR7-CD45RA+CD8+ T cells maintained significantly higher IFN-γ, IL-2 productivity and ex vivo proliferative capacity, while the CD127lo CCR7 -CD45RA-CD8+ T cells or CCR7 -CD45RA+CD8+ T cells exhibited higher granzyme B productivity and susceptibility to activation induced cell death. A higher ratio of CCR7-CD45RA+CD8+ T cells to CCR7 -CD45RA-CD8+ T cells was associated with advanced cancer staging and poor differentiation of tumor cells. Therefore, the CD127lo CCR7-CD45RA-CD8+ T cells and CCR7-CD45RA+CD8+ T cells are functionally similar CD8+ T cell subsets which exhibit late differentiated effector phenotypes and the shift of peripheral CD8+ effector memory balance toward CCR7-CD45RA+ CD8+ T cells is associated with OSCC progression. ? 2014 Lee et al.[SDGs]SDG1[SDGs]SDG3gamma interferon; granzyme B; interleukin 2; interleukin 7 receptor alpha; article; cancer growth; cancer staging; CCR7- CD45RA+ CD8+ T lymphocyte; CCR7- CD45RA- CD8+ T lymphocyte; CD127high CCR7- CD45RA- CD8+ T lymphocyte; CD127low CCR7- CD45RA- CD8+ T lymphocyte; CD8+ T lymphocyte; cell death; cell differentiation; controlled study; cytokine production; effector cell; ex vivo study; human; human cell; lymphocyte proliferation; major clinical study; memory T lymphocyte; mouth squamous cell carcinoma; protein expression; tumor associated leukocyte; Antigens, CD45; Apoptosis; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell; Case-Control Studies; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes; Cell Proliferation; Disease Progression; Humans; Immunologic Memory; Interferon-gamma; Interleukin-2; Interleukin-7 Receptor alpha Subunit; Mouth Neoplasms; Receptors, CCR7; Tumor Cells, Culturedjournal article10.1371/journal.pone.0085521244655872-s2.0-84899838930