Immune Reaction Induced with Hapten Enhanced Intratumoral Chemotherapy during Esophagectomy: Explore Possible Immunosurgery

Author(s): Baofa, Yu, Jian Zhang, Hongzhu Gao, Han Yan, Feng Gao, Peng Jing, Peicheng Zhang, Guoqin Zheng, Xiaomin Zhang

Background: Surgery is one of the main treatments for esophageal cancer, which can rapidly reduce tumor burden. If the surgery can induce immune response and wake up immune cells, it may be possible to translate surgery into immunesurgery. It will be significantly improved by combining with immune therapy by hapten enhanced intratumoral chemotherapy (HEIC) during esophagectomy.

Methods: scRNA-seq was used to analyze and define the molecular and cellular identities in tumors before and followed hapten enhanced intratumor chemotherapy.

Results: Following hapten enhanced intratumoral chemotherapy (HEIC), 8 different cell types were identified in the tumor tissues: B cells, basophils, Ecs, epithelial cells, fibroblasts, MPs, neutrophils and TandNK, while 7 different cell types were found in the blood samples while in tumor immunity, γδT cells can migrate to the local tumor environment by recognizing NK cell surface receptors and directly kill tumors by releasing cytotoxic substances such asIFN-γ, TNF-α.

Conclusion: Immune surgery can be possible performed by intratumoral injection of hapten plus cytotoxic drugs during esophagectomy, indues the immune response for awake immune cells in the preparation of immunotherapy and prevention of tumor metastasis with or without PD1 or PD-l1.