Abstract 3150: Impact of interleukin-1 alpha and EGFR expression on recurrence and survival outcomes in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas

Abstract

Abstract Interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1α) is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in inflammation and immune response and is upregulated in many solid tumors including head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). Although IL-1α expression is generally associated with poor prognosis, the implications of the subcellular localization of IL-1α expression in patient outcomes are poorly understood. This study is aimed at investigating the clinical relevance of immunohistochemical IL-1α expression in HNSCCs. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) containing human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive and HPV-negative HNSCCs were analyzed for IL-1α and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression by immunohistochemistry. Nuclear and cytoplasmic IL-1α and EGFR expression scores were correlated with clinicopathological parameters and patient outcomes. IL-1α expression was observed in the nuclear and/or cytoplasm compartments in 98% of evaluable tumors and 78% of tumors expressed IL-1α in both compartments. A higher percentage of tumors with combined high nuclear and moderate cytoplasmic IL-1α expression were observed in HPV-negative tumors compared to HPV-positive tumors. In HPV-negative tumors a combined EGFR-negative and high nuclear IL-1α expression profile was associated with a low risk of tumor recurrence and favorable overall survival compared to all other EGFR/IL-1α expression profiles. Lastly, a higher frequency of tumors with combined high nuclear and moderate cytoplasmic IL-1α expression was observed in cetuximab monotherapy responders compared to non-responders. Altogether, IL-1α in combination with EGFR expression may be a strong indicator of risk of recurrence in HPV-negative HNSCCs and warrants further study as a tissue biomarker for predicting HNSCC patient outcomes. Citation Format: Andrean L. Simons, Anand Rajan, Katherine Gibson-Corley, Georgina Ofori-Amanfo, Patrick Ten Eyck, Madelyn Espinosa-Cotton, Sandra Schmitz, Joseph Coppock, Steven Sperry. Impact of interleukin-1 alpha and EGFR expression on recurrence and survival outcomes in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3150.