Mature tertiary lymphoid structure is a specific biomarker of cancer immunotherapy and does not predict outcome to chemotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer

Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) are organized aggregates of immune cells (mostly T and B cells) present in the tumor microenvironment, which play a key role in antitumor immune response. These structures have been identified in several solid tumor types and their presence is associated with better survival.1 In advanced stages, it has been shown that TLS could predict the patient response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) independently of programmed death-ligand 1 expression and CD8+ T-cell density.