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

• Main Authors: Arutha Kulasinghe, Touraj Taheri, Ken O’Byrne, Brett G. M. Hughes, Liz Kenny, Chamindie Punyadeera
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-01-01
• Series: Frontiers in Oncology
• Subjects: head and neck cancer; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; tumor microenvironment; digital spatial profiling; immunotherapy
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.607349/full

BackgroundImmune 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.MethodsIn 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.ResultsOur 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.ConclusionThis 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.