TY - JOUR
T1 - An Immunogenomic Investigation of Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Patients Aged 45 Years and Younger
AU - Maroun, Christopher A.
AU - Zhu, Gangcai
AU - Fakhry, Carole
AU - Gourin, Christine G.
AU - Seiwert, Tanguy Y.
AU - Vosler, Peter S.
AU - Tan, Marietta
AU - Koch, Wayne
AU - Eisele, David W.
AU - Pardoll, Drew M.
AU - Mandal, Rajarsi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - Objectives/Hypothesis: To investigate differences in the immunogenomic landscape among young patients presenting with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC). Study Design: Retrospective database review. Methods: Normalized messenger mRNA expression data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. OCSCC patients were categorized into young and older age groups with a cutoff of 45 years. Human papillomavirus–positive tumors were excluded. Cell fractions, marker expression, and mutational load were compared between age groups using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Adjustment for multiple comparisons was performed using the Benjamini-Hochberg method, with a false discovery rate of 0.05. Results: Two hundred forty-five OCSCC tumors were included; 21 (8.6%) were young (37.1 ± 7.5 years) and 224 (91.4%) were older (64.5 ± 10.3 years). There was no significant difference between groups in the fraction of B and T lymphocytes, macrophages, monocytes, natural killers, and dendritic cells. Cytolytic activity score was decreased in young patients (8.33 vs. 18.9, P =.023). Additionally, young patients had significantly lower expression of immunomodulatory markers of immune activation, including PD-1 (PDCD1, P =.003), CTLA4 (P =.025), TIGIT (P =.002), GITR (TNFRSF18, P =.005), OX40 (TNFRSF4, P =.009), LAG-3 (P <.001), and TIM-3 (HAVCR2, P =.002). Young patients had a significantly lower number of single nucleotide variant-derived neoantigens (26.2 vs. 60.6, P <.001). Conclusions: OCSCC patients aged 45 years and younger appear to have an attenuated immune response that may be related to a lower frequency of immunogenic mutations. This may contribute to the pathogenesis of these tumors, and ultimately help inform personalized immune-based therapeutic strategies for young patients with OCSCC. Level of Evidence: NA Laryngoscope, 131:304–311, 2021.
AB - Objectives/Hypothesis: To investigate differences in the immunogenomic landscape among young patients presenting with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC). Study Design: Retrospective database review. Methods: Normalized messenger mRNA expression data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. OCSCC patients were categorized into young and older age groups with a cutoff of 45 years. Human papillomavirus–positive tumors were excluded. Cell fractions, marker expression, and mutational load were compared between age groups using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Adjustment for multiple comparisons was performed using the Benjamini-Hochberg method, with a false discovery rate of 0.05. Results: Two hundred forty-five OCSCC tumors were included; 21 (8.6%) were young (37.1 ± 7.5 years) and 224 (91.4%) were older (64.5 ± 10.3 years). There was no significant difference between groups in the fraction of B and T lymphocytes, macrophages, monocytes, natural killers, and dendritic cells. Cytolytic activity score was decreased in young patients (8.33 vs. 18.9, P =.023). Additionally, young patients had significantly lower expression of immunomodulatory markers of immune activation, including PD-1 (PDCD1, P =.003), CTLA4 (P =.025), TIGIT (P =.002), GITR (TNFRSF18, P =.005), OX40 (TNFRSF4, P =.009), LAG-3 (P <.001), and TIM-3 (HAVCR2, P =.002). Young patients had a significantly lower number of single nucleotide variant-derived neoantigens (26.2 vs. 60.6, P <.001). Conclusions: OCSCC patients aged 45 years and younger appear to have an attenuated immune response that may be related to a lower frequency of immunogenic mutations. This may contribute to the pathogenesis of these tumors, and ultimately help inform personalized immune-based therapeutic strategies for young patients with OCSCC. Level of Evidence: NA Laryngoscope, 131:304–311, 2021.
KW - Oral cavity cancer
KW - The Cancer Genome Atlas
KW - immunogenomics
KW - young patients
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U2 - 10.1002/lary.28674
DO - 10.1002/lary.28674
M3 - Article
C2 - 32297993
AN - SCOPUS:85083437029
SN - 0023-852X
VL - 131
SP - 304
EP - 311
JO - Laryngoscope
JF - Laryngoscope
IS - 2
ER -