Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Tumor Microenvironment, HLA Class I and APM Expression in HPV-Negative Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Claudia Wickenhauser
,
Daniel Bethmann
ORCID logo ,
Matthias Kappler
ORCID logo ,
Alexander Walter Eckert
,
André Steven
,
Juergen Bukur
,
Bernard A. Fox
,
Jana Beer
,
Barbara Seliger
*
Version 1 : Received: 8 January 2021 / Approved: 11 January 2021 / Online: 11 January 2021 (10:47:25 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Wickenhauser, C.; Bethmann, D.; Kappler, M.; Eckert, A.W.; Steven, A.; Bukur, J.; Fox, B.A.; Beer, J.; Seliger, B. Tumor Microenvironment, HLA Class I and APM Expression in HPV-Negative Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Cancers 2021, 13, 620. Wickenhauser, C.; Bethmann, D.; Kappler, M.; Eckert, A.W.; Steven, A.; Bukur, J.; Fox, B.A.; Beer, J.; Seliger, B. Tumor Microenvironment, HLA Class I and APM Expression in HPV-Negative Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Cancers 2021, 13, 620.

Abstract

Progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has been associated with an escape of tumor cells from the host immune surveillance due to an increased knowledge of its underlying molecular mechanisms and its modulation by the tumor microenvironment and immune cell repertoire. In this study the expression of HLA class I (HLA-I) antigens and of components of the antigen processing machinery (APM) was analyzed in 160 pathologically classified human papilloma virus (HPV)-negative OSCC lesions and correlated to the intra-tumoral immune cell response, IFN- signaling and to the patients outcome. A heterogeneous, but predominantly lower constitutive protein expression of HLA-I APM components was found in OSCC sections when compared to non-neoplastic cells. Tumoral HLA-I APM component expression was further categorized into the three major phenotypes HLA-Ihigh/APMhigh, HLA-Ilow/APMlow and HLA-Idiscordant high/low/APMhigh. In the HLA-Ihigh/APMhigh group, the highest frequency of intra-tumoral CD8+ T cells and lowest number of CD8+ T cells close to FoxP3+ cells was found. Patients within this group presented the most unfavorable survival, which was significantly evident in stage T2 tumors. Despite a correlation with the number of intra-tumoral CD8+ T cells, tumoral JAK1 expression as a surrogate marker for IFN- signaling was not associated with HLA-I/APM expression. Thus, the presented findings strongly indicate the presence of additional factors involved in the immunomodulatory process of HPV-negative OSCC with a possible tumor-burden-dependent complex network of immune escape mechanisms beyond HLA-I/APM components and T cell infiltration in this tumor entity.

Keywords

oral squamous cell carcinoma; HLA class I; antigen processing machinery; immune cell infiltration; immune escape; prognosis

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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