AUTHOR=Kulasinghe Arutha , Taheri Touraj , O’Byrne Ken , Hughes Brett G. M. , Kenny Liz , Punyadeera Chamindie 

TITLE=Highly Multiplexed Digital Spatial Profiling of the Tumor Microenvironment of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.607349

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2020.607349

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have shown durable and long-term benefits in a subset of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. To identify patient-responders from non-responders, biomarkers are needed which are predictive of outcome to ICI therapy. Cues in the tumor microenvironment (TME) have been informative in understanding the tumor-immune contexture.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>In this preliminary study, the NanoString GeoMx™ Digital Spatial Profiling (DSP) technology was used to determine the immune marker and compartment specific measurements in a cohort of HNSCC tumors from patients receiving ICI therapy.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Our data revealed that markers involved with immune cell infiltration (CD8 T-cells) were not predictive of outcome to ICI therapy. Rather, a number of immune cell types and protein markers (CD4, CD68, CD45, CD44, CD66b) were found to correlate with progressive disease. Cross platform comparison with the Opal Vectra (Perkin Elmer) for a number of markers across similar regions of interest demonstrated concordance for pan-cytokeratin, CD8, and PD-L1.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>This study, to our knowledge, represents the first digital spatial analysis of HNSCC tumors. A larger cohort of HNSCC will be required to orthogonally validate the findings.</p></sec>