Premium
Programmed cell death ligand‐1 and cytotoxic T cell infiltrates in metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck
Author(s) -
Kraft Stefan,
Gadkaree Shekhar K.,
Deschler Daniel G.,
Lin Derrick T.,
Hoang Mai P.,
Emerick Kevin S.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.26370
Subject(s) - cytotoxic t cell , cd8 , medicine , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , cancer research , cell , lymph node , pathology , t cell , biology , immunology , antigen , immune system , cancer , head and neck cancer , in vitro , biochemistry , genetics
Background Metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) carries a poor prognosis. Increased numbers of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells are associated with a favorable prognosis and programmed cell death receptor‐1 is a suppressor of the CD8+ cytotoxic T cell response. We aim to define their expression in metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Methods Cytotoxic T cell infiltrates and tumoral PD‐L1 expression in lymph node metastases from patients with cSCC of the head and neck were analyzed. Results High tumoral PD‐L1 expression, intratumoral and peritumoral CD8+ cell density in metastases were significantly associated with poor primary tumor differentiation. Low PD‐L1 expression, intratumoral and peritumoral CD8+ density were associated with lower grade primary tumor differentiation. Low PD‐L1 expression correlated with disease progression. Conclusions Increased expression of PD‐L1 correlates with increased CD8+ cell density. Increased expression of PD‐L1 in poorly differentiated tumors may be more likely to benefit from anti PD‐1/PD‐L1 therapy.