Premium
Peritumoral cuffing by T‐cell tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes distinguishes HPV ‐related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma from oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma
Author(s) -
Poropatich Kate,
Hernandez David,
Fontanarosa Joel,
Brown Koshonna,
Woloschak Gayle,
Paintal Ajit,
Raparia Kirtee,
Samant Sandeep
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of oral pathology and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1600-0714
pISSN - 0904-2512
DOI - 10.1111/jop.12605
Subject(s) - head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , immunostaining , medicine , immune system , tongue , pathology , cell , carcinoma , immunohistochemistry , head and neck cancer , cancer , biology , immunology , genetics
Background It is unclear why human papillomavirus ( HPV )‐related head and neck squamous cell carcinoma ( HNSCC ) has improved clinical behavior compared to HPV ‐negative HNSCC . We sought to better characterize the immune microenvironment of tongue cancers by examining the CD 3 and CD 8 TIL pattern in HPV ‐positive and HPV ‐negative tumors. Methods Histologic sections from 40 oral tongue and oropharyngeal cases were analyzed (n=21 HPV DNA ‐positive, n=19 HPV DNA ‐negative). CD 3 and CD 8 T‐cell immunostaining were performed on whole‐slide sections to quantify tumor‐infiltrating lymphocyte ( TIL ) density and assess its morphology. Results A subset of cases ( HPV ‐positive) displayed a unique TIL pattern consisting of circumferential peritumoral population T cells, which was absent in the HPV ‐negative cases. The presence of peritumoral cuffing was strongly predictive of improved recurrence‐free survival compared to cases that lacked this morphologic pattern of immune infiltrate. Four HPV ‐positive cases lacked the pattern, including two cases with disease recurrence. Conclusions For the first time, we show an architectural pattern of immune infiltrate in HNSCC is seen exclusively in HPV ‐positive patients with improved recurrence‐free survival and suggests an organized host immunological response contributes to disease control.