Potential Immune Biomarkers in Gastrointestinal Cancers: Immune Inhibitory Molecules, Lymphocytes and Tumor Antigens

With the recent advances in immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer there is a pressing need to develop new immune specific biomarkers. In the current thesis we examine the role of several immune inhibitory molecules, tumor associated antigens and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, as possible biomarkers in cancers of the gastrointestinal tract (hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic cancer, ampullary cancer and colon cancer). These molecules, and cell types, are frequently present in the tumor microenvironment or in the circulation of cancer patients. We show that panels of immune specific biomarkers can have powerful prognostic potential in several cancers types.