Association of Biological Age with Tumor Microenvironment in Patients with Esophageal Adenocarcinoma.
Gerontology
; 70(4): 337-350, 2024.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38286115
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Esophageal cancer is the seventh most common cancer worldwide and typically tends to manifest at an older age. Marked heterogeneity in time-dependent functional decline in older adults results in varying grades of clinically manifest patient fitness or frailty. The biological age-related adaptations that accompany functional decline have been shown to modulate the non-malignant cells comprising the tumor microenvironment (TME). In the current work, we studied the association between biological age and TME characteristics in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma.METHODS:
We comparatively assessed intratumoral histologic stroma quantity, tumor immune cell infiltrate, and blood leukocyte and thrombocyte count in 72 patients stratified over 3 strata of biological age (younger <70 years, fit older ≥70 years, and frail older adults ≥70 years), as defined by a geriatric assessment.RESULTS:
Frailty in older adults was predictive of decreased intratumoral stroma quantity (B = -14.66% stroma, p = 0.022) relative to tumors in chronological-age-matched fit older adults. Moreover, in comparison to younger adults, frail older adults (p = 0.032), but not fit older adults (p = 0.302), demonstrated a lower blood thrombocyte count at the time of diagnosis. Lastly, we found an increased proportion of tumors with a histologic desert TME histotype, comprising low stroma quantity and low immune cell infiltration, in frail older adults.CONCLUSION:
Our results illustrate the stromal-reprogramming effects of biological age and provide a biological underpinning for the clinical relevance of assessing frailty in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma, further justifying the need for standardized geriatric assessment in geriatric cancer patients.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Esophageal Neoplasms
/
Adenocarcinoma
/
Frailty
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Gerontology
Year:
2024
Type:
Article