Roles of naïve CD4⁺ T cells and their differentiated subtypes in lung adenocarcinoma and underlying potential regulatory pathways

Naïve CD4⁺ T cells and their differentiated counterparts play a significant regulatory role in the tumor immune microenvironment, yet their effects on lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) are not fully understood.

We utilized Mendelian randomization to assess the causal association between naïve CD4⁺ T cells and LUAD. Employing a modified single-sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (ssGSEA) algorithm with The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, we determined the infiltration levels of naïve CD4⁺ T cells and their differentiation subtypes and investigated their correlation with clinical characteristics. Potential regulatory pathways of T helper cells were identified through Mantel tests and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database enrichment analysis.

Mendelian randomization analysis revealed an inhibitory effect of naïve CD4⁺ T cells on LUAD (false discovery rate < 0.05), which was corroborated by observational experiments using TCGA database. Specifically, T helper cell type 2 demonstrated a promotive effect on LUAD in terms of overall, disease-free, and progression-free survival (p < 0.05). Moreover, regulatory T cells exhibited a protective effect on LUAD in terms of disease-specific survival (p < 0.01). Concurrently, we explored the overall impact of naïve CD4⁺ T cell differentiation subtypes on LUAD, revealing upregulation in pathways such as neutrophil degranulation, MAPK family signaling pathways, and platelet activation, signaling, and aggregation.

Naïve CD4⁺ T cells and their differentiated counterparts play essential regulatory roles in the tumor immune microenvironment, demonstrating bidirectionality in their effects.Thus, elucidating the mechanisms and developing novel cell differentiation-inducing agents will benefit anti-cancer therapy.