Identification of Immune Subtypes for Predicting the Prognosis of Patients in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common malignancy with poor prognosis and immune response, which plays an important role in tumor progression. Recently, immunotherapies have revolutionized the therapeutic means of malignancies including HNSCC. However, the relationship between imm...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/15330338211045823 |
| _version_ | 1811242752583663616 |
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| author | Jing Sun PhD Guiqing Fang PhD Zhibin Zuo PhD Xijiao Yu PhD Lande Xue PhD Chong Li PhD Shu Li PhD |
| author_facet | Jing Sun PhD Guiqing Fang PhD Zhibin Zuo PhD Xijiao Yu PhD Lande Xue PhD Chong Li PhD Shu Li PhD |
| author_sort | Jing Sun PhD |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common malignancy with poor prognosis and immune response, which plays an important role in tumor progression. Recently, immunotherapies have revolutionized the therapeutic means of malignancies including HNSCC. However, the relationship between immunophenotypes of HNSCC and its clinical response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors remains unclear. We aim to identify molecular subtyping related to distinct immunophenotypes in HNSCC. Consensus clustering algorithm was conducted for subtyping. Immunophenotypes between subtypes were compared according to infiltrating immunocytes, immune reactions, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) family, immunoinhibitory, immunostimulatory and immune scores. The relationship between immunophenotype and genotype was investigated from gene mutation and tumor mutation burden. The potential response of Immune-checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy was estimated with TIDE and ImmuCellAI algorithms, and immune-checkpoint genes. The immune characteristics were also investigated. Biological functions were annotated by the gene-set enrichment analysis (GSEA) algorithm. Two distinct immune subtypes of HNSCC with different survival outcomes, biological characteristics, immunophenotype, and ICB response were identified. The subtype-1 was featured with better prognosis, more infiltrated immunocytes, stronger immune reaction, higher immune-related gene expression, higher immune-checkpoint gene expression (PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4), and better ICB response. A higher immune response in subtype-1 was also revealed by GSEA. Subtype-1 possessed a higher immune response and more sensitivity to ICB therapy leading to a better prognosis. These findings may shed promising light on the immunotherapy strategy in HNSCC |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:56:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-42757fe346a2430c8ef767cef7aa55f8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1533-0338 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:56:48Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment |
| spelling | doaj.art-42757fe346a2430c8ef767cef7aa55f82022-12-22T03:30:21ZengSAGE PublishingTechnology in Cancer Research & Treatment1533-03382021-10-012010.1177/15330338211045823Identification of Immune Subtypes for Predicting the Prognosis of Patients in Head and Neck Squamous Cell CarcinomaJing Sun PhD0Guiqing Fang PhD1Zhibin Zuo PhD2Xijiao Yu PhD3Lande Xue PhD4Chong Li PhD5Shu Li PhD6 Department of Periodontology, Jinan Stomatological Hospital, Jinan, China Department of Periodontology, Jinan Stomatological Hospital, Jinan, China Department of Periodontology, Jinan Stomatological Hospital, Jinan, China Department of Periodontology, Jinan Stomatological Hospital, Jinan, China Department of Periodontology, Jinan Stomatological Hospital, Jinan, China Department of Periodontology, Jinan Stomatological Hospital, Jinan, China , Jinan, ChinaHead and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common malignancy with poor prognosis and immune response, which plays an important role in tumor progression. Recently, immunotherapies have revolutionized the therapeutic means of malignancies including HNSCC. However, the relationship between immunophenotypes of HNSCC and its clinical response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors remains unclear. We aim to identify molecular subtyping related to distinct immunophenotypes in HNSCC. Consensus clustering algorithm was conducted for subtyping. Immunophenotypes between subtypes were compared according to infiltrating immunocytes, immune reactions, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) family, immunoinhibitory, immunostimulatory and immune scores. The relationship between immunophenotype and genotype was investigated from gene mutation and tumor mutation burden. The potential response of Immune-checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy was estimated with TIDE and ImmuCellAI algorithms, and immune-checkpoint genes. The immune characteristics were also investigated. Biological functions were annotated by the gene-set enrichment analysis (GSEA) algorithm. Two distinct immune subtypes of HNSCC with different survival outcomes, biological characteristics, immunophenotype, and ICB response were identified. The subtype-1 was featured with better prognosis, more infiltrated immunocytes, stronger immune reaction, higher immune-related gene expression, higher immune-checkpoint gene expression (PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4), and better ICB response. A higher immune response in subtype-1 was also revealed by GSEA. Subtype-1 possessed a higher immune response and more sensitivity to ICB therapy leading to a better prognosis. These findings may shed promising light on the immunotherapy strategy in HNSCChttps://doi.org/10.1177/15330338211045823 |
| spellingShingle | Jing Sun PhD Guiqing Fang PhD Zhibin Zuo PhD Xijiao Yu PhD Lande Xue PhD Chong Li PhD Shu Li PhD Identification of Immune Subtypes for Predicting the Prognosis of Patients in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment |
| title | Identification of Immune Subtypes for Predicting the Prognosis of Patients in Head and Neck Squamous
Cell Carcinoma |
| title_full | Identification of Immune Subtypes for Predicting the Prognosis of Patients in Head and Neck Squamous
Cell Carcinoma |
| title_fullStr | Identification of Immune Subtypes for Predicting the Prognosis of Patients in Head and Neck Squamous
Cell Carcinoma |
| title_full_unstemmed | Identification of Immune Subtypes for Predicting the Prognosis of Patients in Head and Neck Squamous
Cell Carcinoma |
| title_short | Identification of Immune Subtypes for Predicting the Prognosis of Patients in Head and Neck Squamous
Cell Carcinoma |
| title_sort | identification of immune subtypes for predicting the prognosis of patients in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/15330338211045823 |
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