lecture title

《Dissecting the Heterogeneous Nature of NKTCL》

introduction to the keynote speakers

bei jinxin, pi of the state key laboratory of oncology in south china, researcher at the sun yat-sen university cancer control center, adjunct professor at the national cancer center of singapore, yangtze river scholar "distinguished professor", national youth top talent, national natural science foundation of china outstanding youth fund, ministry of education "new century outstanding" talent support plan”. he has published more than 100 papers so far, including top international professional magazines nature genetics (3 papers), lancet oncology (2 papers), cell, etc. hosted projects of the 12th five-year plan 863, national natural science foundation of china and other key projects. expert member of national natural science foundation of china review and guide compilation and review of national key r&d programs.

professor bei jinxin was invited to jinfeng laboratory to give academic lectures.

key points of the lecture

nk/t-cell lymphoma (nktcl) is a highly aggressive lymphoma associated with epstein-barr virus infection that mainly occurs in asian and latin american populations. the overall survival rate of nktcl patients is low, and for patients with relapsed or refractory nktcl, the survival rate is even less optimistic, with the average survival period being only 6.4 months. recently, novel treatment options such as immune checkpoint inhibitors and histone deacetylase inhibitors have shown benefit in the treatment of advanced or relapsed/refractory nktcl, but only in a small subset of patients. these varying presentations and treatment responses highlight the inherent heterogeneity of nktcl.

to better understand the origin of this heterogeneity, bei jinxin's team used single-cell rna sequencing analysis to characterize the tumor microenvironment (tme) of nktcl at the single-cell level. combining in vitro and in vivo models, we identified a subset of lmp1+ malignant nk cells that contribute to nktcl tumorigenesis and the heterogeneous development of malignant cells. in addition, malignant nk cells interact with various immune cells through chemokines and their receptors, secrete large amounts of dpp4, disrupt the chemotaxis of immune cells and regulate their infiltration. they also exhibit an immunosuppressive effect on t cells, which is further enhanced by lmp1. in multiple patient cohorts, high transcription of ebv-encoding genes and low infiltration of tumor-associated macrophages (tams) were favorable prognostic indicators for nktcl. bei jinxin's team analyzed the heterogeneous composition of the nktcl tme for the first time with single-cell resolution, highlighting the key role of ebv-encoded lmp1 malignant nk cells in reshaping the cellular landscape and promoting an immunosuppressive microenvironment. these findings provide insights into understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of nktcl and developing novel therapeutic strategies against nktcl.

during the exchange session, the scientific researchers present actively asked questions, and professor bei jinxin launched a lively academic discussion with everyone.