Peripheral Blood CyTOF and Viral Imprinting in Postoperative Multiple Pulmonary Nodules

Overview

This multicenter prospective cohort study will enroll adults who have undergone resection of a primary pulmonary nodule and have residual multiple pulmonary nodules or require routine postoperative pulmonary nodule follow-up. During clinically indicated follow-up visits, a small amount of peripheral venous blood will be collected at the same time as routine blood draws for research CyTOF immune phenotyping and viral imprinting-related serology. The study will not assign participants to treatment, change follow-up schedules, imaging, medication, surgery, or other clinical care. Research laboratory results will not be returned to participants or entered into medical records. The study will describe longitudinal peripheral immune-cell profiles and explore associations among T/B/NK cell phenotypes, T-cell differentiation and senescence/exhaustion markers, viral imprinting markers, and postoperative residual or new pulmonary nodule evolution.

The study is designed as a multicenter, prospective, non-randomized observational cohort. Eligible participants will be identified in thoracic surgery clinics, inpatient services, or routine postoperative follow-up programs at participating centers. After written informed consent, research blood samples of no more than 10 mL per time point will be collected together with routine clinical blood draws when available. No additional clinic visit, imaging examination, treatment, surgery, drug, device, vaccination, or other clinical intervention will be scheduled for research purposes. Peripheral blood will be analyzed using CyTOF mass cytometry to characterize major T-cell, B-cell, and NK-cell lineages, T-cell Naive/TCM/TEM/TEMRA differentiation, CD57-related senescence, activation markers, and immune checkpoint/exhaustion-related markers. Viral imprinting-related serology may include CMV IgG, EBV VCA-IgG, EBV EBNA-IgG, HPV L1-related antibodies, or other tests available within the approved institutional laboratory scope. Clinical and exposure data will be abstracted from routine records and study CRFs, including demographics, smoking and exposure history, relevant comorbidities, pulmonary nodule characteristics, pathology, imaging follow-up, and subsequent biopsy or surgery. Analyses will describe longitudinal immune phenotypes and evaluate exploratory associations between immune reserve, immune senescence, viral imprinting markers, and pulmonary nodule stability, enlargement, new nodule development, imaging risk upgrade, repeat biopsy, or repeat surgery. All research assay results are for group-level research only and will not be used to guide individual diagnosis, treatment, imaging interval, medication, or surgical decisions.