Stimulator of interferon genes protein (STING) activates the immune response in inflammatory cells. STING expression in cancer cells is less well characterized, but STING agonists are currently being evaluated as anticancer drugs. A tissue microarray containing 18,001 samples from 139 different tumor types was analyzed for STING by immunohistochemistry. STING-positive tumor cells were found in 130 (93.5%) of 139 tumor entities. The highest STING positivity rates occurred in squamous cell carcinomas (up to 96%); malignant mesothelioma (88.5%–95.7%); adenocarcinoma of the pancreas (94.9%), lung (90.3%), cervix (90.0%), colorectum (75.2%), and gallbladder (68.8%); and serous high-grade ovarian cancer (86.0%). High STING expression was linked to adverse phenotypes in breast cancer, clear cell renal cell carcinoma, colorectal adenocarcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and papillary carcinoma of the thyroid (p< 0.05). In pTa urothelial carcinomas, STING expression was associated with low-grade carcinoma (p= 0.0002). Across all tumors, STING expression paralleled PD-L1 positivity of tumor and inflammatory cells (p< 0.0001 each) but was unrelated to the density of CD8+ lymphocytes. STING expression is variable across tumor types and may be related to aggressive tumor phenotype and PD-L1 positivity. The lack of relationship with tumor-infiltrating CD8+ lymphocytes argues against a significant IFN production by STING positive tumor cells.
干扰素基因刺激蛋白(STING)在炎症细胞中激活免疫应答。目前对癌细胞中STING表达的特征了解尚不充分，但STING激动剂正作为抗癌药物进行评估。本研究通过免疫组织化学方法，对包含139种不同肿瘤类型共18,001例样本的组织芯片进行STING检测。结果显示，在139种肿瘤实体中有130种（93.5%）存在STING阳性肿瘤细胞。STING阳性率最高的肿瘤包括：鳞状细胞癌（最高达96%）、恶性间皮瘤（88.5%–95.7%）、胰腺腺癌（94.9%）、肺腺癌（90.3%）、宫颈腺癌（90.0%）、结直肠腺癌（75.2%）、胆囊腺癌（68.8%）以及高级别浆液性卵巢癌（86.0%）。在乳腺癌、透明细胞肾细胞癌、结直肠腺癌、肝细胞癌和甲状腺乳头状癌中，高STING表达与不良表型相关（p<0.05）。而在pTa期尿路上皮癌中，STING表达与低级别癌相关（p=0.0002）。在所有肿瘤类型中，STING表达与肿瘤细胞及炎症细胞的PD-L1阳性率呈正相关（p<0.0001），但与CD8+淋巴细胞密度无关。研究表明，STING表达在不同肿瘤类型中存在差异，可能与侵袭性肿瘤表型及PD-L1阳性相关。其与肿瘤浸润CD8+淋巴细胞缺乏关联性，提示STING阳性肿瘤细胞可能不产生显著的干扰素。
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