Abstract
Tumor immune infiltration cells (TIICs) are highly heterogeneous, not only in different cancer subtypes but also within different cancer regions. We conducted the Cell-type Identification using Estimating Relative Subsets Of RNA Transcripts (CIBERSORT) method. We assessed the relative proportions of 22 TIICs in HNSC using publicly available TCGA transcriptional datasets, analyzed the proportions of TIICs between HNSC tissues and normal tissues, along with accompanying clinicopathological data, and the impact of TIICs on clinical outcome. After the filter criteria, a total of 395 patients were included in the analysis. We found significant differences in naïve B cells, monocytes, resting mast cells, activated mast cells, CD8+ T cells, and M0 macrophages between HNSC tissues and adjacent non-cancer tissues. We also found that some TIIC subgroups were significantly associated with clinical parameters. Moreover, the patients with low Tregs fraction had worse OS and DFS than those with high Tregs fraction. However, low M0 macrophages fraction was associated with better OS and DFS in HNSC patients. Moreover, Tregs and M0 macrophages are likely to be important determinants of prognosis, which may serve as a potential immunotherapy target for HNSC. Then, we screened the immune-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs), performed the GO and KEGG enrichment analysis, constructed the protein–protein interaction network, and screened the prognosis-related hub genes in HNSC. However, further clinical investigation and basic experiments are needed to validate our results, and uncover the molecular mechanisms interlinking TIICs in HNSC and their roles in prognosis and therapy.
Highlights
Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the sixth most common malignancy worldwide, with an incidence rate of approximately 600,000 patients per year [1]
We evaluated the relationships between each tumor immune infiltration cell (TIIC) proportion and clinicopathological characteristics in head and neck squamous carcinoma (HNSC) patients using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)
The proportions of naıve B cells (P < 0.001), monocytes (P < 0.001), resting mast cells (P = 0.005), and CD8+ T cells (P = 0.043) in HNSC tissues were significantly lower than adjacent non-cancer tissues, while the proportion of activated mast cells (P = 0.025) and M0 macrophages (P < 0.001) in HNSC tissues was significantly higher than adjacent non-cancer tissues (Figure 1)
Summary
Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the sixth most common malignancy worldwide, with an incidence rate of approximately 600,000 patients per year [1]. 95% of HNC cases are head and neck squamous carcinoma (HNSC), commonly arising from the mucosa of oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, and larynx [2,3]. The epidemiology surveys showed that smoking and alcohol consumption, and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection are most common causative factors for HNSC [4,5,6]. There have been certain advances in HNSC treatment, in stage III and IV HNSC, 5-year survival rate is less than 50% [7]. Despite significant advances in multidisciplinary treatments, including monoclonal antibody therapies, adoptive T-cell transfer, cancer vaccines, and cytokine therapy, the overall survival rate has remained stable for decades [8]. It seems increasingly clear that HNSC are characterized by a large heterogeneity in terms of potential risk factors, complex molecular abnormalities, and varied tumor sites
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