Uncovering CD79b+ Neutrophils: A New Avenue for Early Cancer Diagnosis
Description
Early detection greatly improves cancer outcomes by allowing for quicker and more effective treatment. A neutrophil subset expressing CD79b has been identified as a potential biomarker in melanoma when they appear in the blood, but their role in other cancers remains unclear.
We investigated the potential of CD79b+ neutrophils as a biomarker in head and neck cancer patients. To do this, blood samples from human patients and healthy controls were analyzed by flow cytometry within 24 hours of collection for the presence of CD79b+ neutrophils. In parallel, we implanted mice with head and neck tumors and longitudinally measured CD79b+ neutrophils over 16 days in blood, spleen, lymph nodes, tumor, and bone marrow to characterize their dynamics in cancer progression.
Preliminary patient data suggests there are higher CD79b+ neutrophil levels in the blood of head and neck cancer patients compared to healthy controls. Dynamics of CD79b+ neutrophils in the mouse model mirrored those in patients in the blood. Also, the data showed that CD79b+ neutrophils are normally resident in the bone marrow and accumulate in the tumor with cancer progression. Together, this work supports the potential of peripheral CD79b+ neutrophils as a biomarker for cancer detection.
Citation Information
Maheshwari, Dheer; Schroeder, Carolyn; Schweizer, Alexis; Keith, Lauren; Branson, Mariah; and Meyer, Melissa A., "Uncovering CD79b+ Neutrophils: A New Avenue for Early Cancer Diagnosis" (2026). Office of Research DMU Research Symposium. 90.
https://digitalcommons.dmu.edu/researchsymposium/2025rs/2025abstracts/90
Uncovering CD79b+ Neutrophils: A New Avenue for Early Cancer Diagnosis
Early detection greatly improves cancer outcomes by allowing for quicker and more effective treatment. A neutrophil subset expressing CD79b has been identified as a potential biomarker in melanoma when they appear in the blood, but their role in other cancers remains unclear.
We investigated the potential of CD79b+ neutrophils as a biomarker in head and neck cancer patients. To do this, blood samples from human patients and healthy controls were analyzed by flow cytometry within 24 hours of collection for the presence of CD79b+ neutrophils. In parallel, we implanted mice with head and neck tumors and longitudinally measured CD79b+ neutrophils over 16 days in blood, spleen, lymph nodes, tumor, and bone marrow to characterize their dynamics in cancer progression.
Preliminary patient data suggests there are higher CD79b+ neutrophil levels in the blood of head and neck cancer patients compared to healthy controls. Dynamics of CD79b+ neutrophils in the mouse model mirrored those in patients in the blood. Also, the data showed that CD79b+ neutrophils are normally resident in the bone marrow and accumulate in the tumor with cancer progression. Together, this work supports the potential of peripheral CD79b+ neutrophils as a biomarker for cancer detection.
