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

Arutha Kulasinghe; Touraj Taheri; Ken O'Byrne; Brett G M Hughes; Liz Kenny; Chamindie Punyadeera

doi:10.3389/fonc.2020.607349

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

Front Oncol. 2021 Jan 19:10:607349. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2020.607349. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Arutha Kulasinghe^{1

2}, Touraj Taheri^{3

4}, Ken O'Byrne^{1

2

5}, Brett G M Hughes^{4

6}, Liz Kenny^{4

6}, Chamindie Punyadeera^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ The School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, QLD, Australia.
² Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
³ Department of Pathology, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
⁴ Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, QLD, Australia.
⁵ Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, QLD, Australia.
⁶ School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Abstract

Background: 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.

Methods: 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.

Results: 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.

Conclusion: 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.

Keywords: digital spatial profiling; head and neck cancer; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; immunotherapy; tumor microenvironment.