Comprehensive analysis of significant genes and immune cell infiltration in HPV-related head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Type I conventional dendritic cells and CD8+ T cells predict favorable clinical outcome of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most common tumor entities worldwide, with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection contributing to cancer development. Conventional therapies achieve only limited efficiency, especially in recurrent or metastatic HNSCC. As the immune landscape decisively impacts the survival of patients and treatment efficacy, this study comprehensively investigated the immunological tumor microenvironment (TME) and its association with patient outcome, with special focus on several dendritic cell (DC) and T lymphocyte subpopulations. Therefore, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor samples of 56 HNSCC patients, who have undergone resection and adjuvant radiotherapy, were analyzed by multiplex immunohistochemistry focusing on the detailed phenotypic characterization and spatial distribution of DCs, CD8+ T cells, and T-helper cell subsets in different tumor compartments. Immune cell densities and proportions were correlated with clinical characteristics of the whole HNSCC cohort and different HPV- or hypoxia-associated subcohorts. Tumor stroma was highly infiltrated by plasmacytoid DCs and T lymphocytes. Among the T-helper cells and CD8+ T cells, stromal regulatory T cells and intraepithelial exhausted CD8+ T cells expressing programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1+) and/or lymphocyte-activation gene-3 (LAG-3+) were the predominant phenotypes, indicating an immunosuppressive TME. HPV-associated tumors showed significantly higher infiltration of type I and type II conventional DCs (cDC1, cDC2) as well as several CD8+ T cell phenotypes including exhausted, activated, and proliferating T cells. On the contrary, tumors with hypoxia-associated gene signatures exhibited reduced infiltration for these immune cells. By multivariate Cox regression, immune-related prognostic factors were identified. Patient clusters defined by high infiltration of DCs and T lymphocytes combined with HPV positivity or low hypoxia showed significantly prolonged survival. Thereby, cDC1 and CD8+ T cells emerged as independent prognostic factors for local and distant recurrence. These results might contribute to the implementation of an immune cell infiltration score predicting HNSCC patients' survival and such patient stratification might improve the design of future individualized radiochemo-(immuno)therapies.

A bird's eye view of the potential role of NFKBIA in pan-cancer

In the 21st century, cancer remains a serious threat to people's health and has become a prominent public health problem. NFKBIA is involved in the pathological process of many diseases including cancer, but its specific role in pan-cancer has not yet been fully elucidated. This study aims to deepen the understanding of cancer pathology by analyzing the potential functions of NFKBIA in pan-cancer. We used TCGA data to analyze differences of expression of NFKBIA in pan-cancer. We explored the prognostic value, clinical relevance, immune relevance, potential biological function, and diagnosis and treatment value of NFKBIA in pan-cancer through bioinformatics analysis. This study found that in pan-cancer, NFKBIA exhibits differences in expression, which correlate with the prognosis, diagnosis, treatment value and clinical and immune parameters. We have identified that Aspirin, Astaxanthin and Bardoxolone methyl are expected to play a potential therapeutic role in pan-cancer. The results of this study will help to improve our understanding of the role and potential mechanism of NFKBIA in cancer pathology, which may provide guidance for cancer-related research and clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Immune Responses in Oral Papillomavirus Clearance in the MmuPV1 Mouse Model

Human papillomavirus (HPV)-induced oropharyngeal cancer now exceeds HPV-induced cervical cancer, with a noticeable sex bias. Although it is well established that women have a more proficient immune system, it remains unclear whether immune control of oral papillomavirus infections differs between sexes. In the current study, we use genetically modified mice to target CCR2 and Stat1 pathways, with the aim of investigating the role of both innate and adaptive immune responses in clearing oral papillomavirus, using our established papillomavirus (MmuPV1) infection model. Persistent oral MmuPV1 infection was detected in Rag1ko mice with T and B cell deficiencies. Meanwhile, other tested mice were susceptible to MmuPV1 infections but were able to clear the virus. We found sex differences in key myeloid cells, including macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells in the infected tongues of wild type and Stat1ko mice but these differences were not observed in CCR2ko mice. Intriguingly, we also observed a sex difference in anti-MmuPV1 E4 antibody levels, especially for two IgG isotypes: IgG2b and IgG3. However, we found comparable numbers of interferon-gamma-producing CD8 T cells stimulated by E6 and E7 in both sexes. These findings suggest that males and females may use different components of innate and adaptive immune responses to control papillomavirus infections in the MmuPV1 mouse model. The observed sex difference in immune responses, especially in myeloid cells including dendritic cell (DC) subsets, may have potential diagnostic and prognostic values for HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer.

A cuproptosis-related lncRNA signature predicts the prognosis and immune cell status in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Introduction

The incidence of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), one of the most prevalent tumors, is increasing rapidly worldwide. Cuproptosis, as a new copper-dependent cell death form, was proposed recently. However, the prognosis value and immune effects of cuproptosis-related lncRNAs (CRLs) have not yet been elucidated in HNSCC.

Methods

In the current study, the expression pattern, differential profile, clinical correlation, DNA methylation, functional enrichment, univariate prognosis factor, and the immune effects of CRLs were analyzed. A four-CRL signature was constructed using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm.

Results

Results showed that 20 CRLs had significant effects on the stage progression of HNSCC. Sixteen CRLs were tightly correlated with the overall survival (OS) of HNSCC patients. Particularly, lnc-FGF3-4 as a single risk factor was upregulated in HNSCC tissues and negatively impacted the prognosis of HNSCC. DNA methylation probes of cg02278768 (MIR9-3HG), cg07312099 (ASAH1-AS1), and cg16867777 (TIAM1-AS1) were also correlated with the prognosis of HNSCC. The four-CRL signature that included MAP4K3-DT, lnc-TCEA3-1, MIR9-3HG, and CDKN2A-DT had a significantly negative effect on the activation of T cells follicular helper and OS probability of HNSCC. Functional analysis revealed that cell cycle, DNA replication, and p53 signal pathways were enriched.

Discussion

A novel CRL-related signature has the potential of prognosis prediction in HNSCC. Targeting CRLs may be a promising therapeutic strategy for HNSCC.

Review of biomarkers for response to immunotherapy in HNSCC microenvironment

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma are one of the most common types of cancer worldwide. Although a variety of treatment methods such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy are widely used in diagnosing and treating HNSCC, the survival prognosis of patients has not been significantly improved in the past decades. As an emerging treatment approach, immunotherapy has shown exciting therapeutic effects in R/M HNSCC. However, the current screening methods are still insufficient, and there is a significant need for reliable predictive biomarkers for personalized clinical management and new therapeutic strategies. This review summarized the application of immunotherapy in HNSCC, comprehensively analyzed the existing bioinformatic studies on immunotherapy in HNSCC, evaluated the current methods of tumor immune heterogeneity and immunotherapy, and aimed to screen molecular markers with potential predictive significance. Among them, PD-1 has obvious predictive relevance as the target of existing immune drugs. Clonal TMB is a potential biomarker for HNSCC immunotherapy. The other molecules, including IFN-γ, CXCL, CTLA-4, MTAP, SFR4/CPXM1/COL5A1, TILs, CAFs, exosomes, and peripheral blood indicators, may have suggestive significance for tumor immune microenvironment and prognosis of immunotherapy.

FDCSP Is an Immune-Associated Prognostic Biomarker in HPV-Positive Head and Neck Squamous Carcinoma

Background: Head and neck squamous carcinoma (HNSC) poses a major threat to human life. The role of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the initiation and progression of HNSC is becoming more widely accepted. HPV-positive (HPV+) HNSC has shown unique responses to cancer therapies, which may be due to differences in immune cell infiltration. It is critical to determine how the immune responses to HPV in HNSC are regulated. Methods: Transcriptome data of HNSC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were analyzed. Then, the CIBERSORT algorithm was used to calculate immune cell infiltration in HNSC. FDCSP expression level was detected by qPCR in the HNSC tissues collected from the Nanfang Hospital. Results: Follicular dendritic cell secreted protein (FDCSP) was highly expressed in HPV+ HNSC, and higher expression of FDSCP was associated with a favorable prognosis. In HPV+ HNSC samples, FDCSP significantly increased the proportion of T follicular helper cells (TFHs). FDCSP expression was also found to be associated with TP53 mutation status in HPV+ HNSC. The function of FDCSP was intimately connected to chemokine pathways, particularly with the C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 13 (CXCL13). We verified that the high expression of FDCSP in HPV+ HNSC and higher FDCSP is closely related to prognosis in HNSC samples we collected by qPCR. Conclusions: Collectively, these findings may provide fresh evidence that FDCSP is a potential chemokine-associated prognostic biomarker in HPV+ HNSC.

Diagnostic and therapeutic values of PMEPA1 and its correlation with tumor immunity in pan-cancer

AIMS

The prostate transmembrane protein, androgen induced 1 (PMEPA1) is differentially expressed in pan-cancer. However, PMEPA1 specific role in cancers has not been fully clarified. This study aims to explore the potential role of Pmepa1 in pan-cancer and specific cancer, with a view to deepening the research on the pathological mechanism of cancer.

MAIN METHODS

The Perl language and R language were used to identify the correlation between PMEPA1 expression level and clinical indicators, prognosis values, tumor microenvironment, immune cells' infiltration, immune checkpoint genes, TMB and MSI. The Therapeutic Target Database was used for identifying potential therapeutic drugs that target the pathways that are significantly affected by PMEPA1 expression.

KEY FINDINGS

PMEPA1 differential expression significantly correlated with patients' age, race, tumors' stage and status. PMEPA1 high expression was closely correlated with poor prognosis in many cancer types, excluding prostate adenocarcinoma. PMEPA1 expression was closely related to tumor cells and the immune microenvironment in stromal and immune cells' level, immune cells' infiltration, immune checkpoint genes, tumor mutational burden and microsatellite instability. We also found that the activity of the olfactory transduction pathway was closely related to PMEPA1 expression. In pan-cancer, Trifluoperazine and Halofantrine have the potential to reduce PMEPA1 expression.

SIGNIFICANCE

This study integrated existing data to explore PMEPA1 potential function in cancers, provided insights for the future cancer-related studies.