Author:
Huo Mengqi,Zhang Ying,Chen Zhong,Zhang Suxin,Bao Yang,Li Tianke
Abstract
AbstractThe tumor microenvironment (TME) is of great clinical significance for predicting the therapeutic effect of tumors. Nonetheless, there was no systematic analysis of cellular interactions in the TME of head and neck cancer (HNSC). This study used gene expression data from 816 patients with HNSC to analyze the scores of 22 immune cells. On this basis, we have established a novel TMEscore-based prognostic risk model. The relationship between TMEscore and clinical and genomic characteristics was analyzed. The sample was divided into risk-H and risk-L groups based on the prognosis risk model of TMEscore, with significant differences in overall survival between the two groups (log rank p < 0.001). In terms of clinical features, the TMEscore is closely related to the T staging, Grade, and HPV. As for genomic characteristics, the genomic features of the Risk-H samples are a low expression of immune-related genes and high-frequency mutations of TP53 and CEP152. This model was validated in an external test set, in which the prognosis for Risk-H group and Risk-L group was also significantly different (log rank p = 0.017). A quantitative method of TME infiltration pattern is established, which may be a potential predictor of HNSC prognosis.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference39 articles.
1. Leemans, C. R., Snijders, P. J. & Brakenhoff, R. H. The molecular landscape of head and neck cancer. Nat. Rev. Cancer 18(5), 269 (2018).
2. Du, E. et al. Long-term survival in head and neck cancer: impact of site, stage, smoking, and human papillomavirus status. Laryngoscope. 129(11), 2506–2513 (2019).
3. Elkashty, O. A. et al. Cancer stem cells enrichment with surface markers CD271 and CD44 in human head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. Carcinogenesis. 11(19), pii: bgz182 (2019).
4. Vargo, J. A. et al. A multi-institutional comparison of SBRT and IMRT for definitive reirradiation of recurrent or second primary head and neck cancer. Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 100(3), 595–605 (2018).
5. Noronha, V. et al. Once-a-week versus once-every-3-weeks cisplatin chemoradiation for locally advanced head and neck cancer: a phase III randomized noninferiority trial. J. Clin. Oncol. 2017749457 (2017).