Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Publication Date

3-1-2025

Journal

Nature Genetics

Abstract

Recognition and elimination of pathogens and cancer cells depend on the adaptive immune system. Thus, accurate quantification of immune subsets is vital for precision medicine. We present immune lymphocyte estimation from nucleotide sequencing (ImmuneLENS), which estimates T cell and B cell fractions, class switching and clonotype diversity from whole-genome sequencing data at depths as low as 5× coverage. By applying ImmuneLENS to the 100,000 Genomes Project, we identify genes enriched with somatic mutations in T cell-rich tumors, significant sex-based differences in circulating T cell fraction and demonstrated that the circulating T cell fraction in patients with cancer is significantly lower than in healthy individuals. Low circulating B cell fraction was linked to increased cancer incidence. Finally, circulating T cell abundance was more prognostic of 5-year cancer survival than infiltrating T cells.

Keywords

Humans, Neoplasms, Aging, Male, Female, T-Lymphocytes, B-Lymphocytes, Mutation, Aged, Prognosis

DOI

10.1038/s41588-025-02086-5

PMID

39966644

PMCID

PMC11906351

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

2-18-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes

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