Tumor Microenvironment-Based Risk Stratification of Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Alhadi Almangush; Lauri Jouhi; Caj Haglund; Jaana Hagström; Antti A Mäkitie; Ilmo Leivo

doi:10.1002/hed.27945

Tumor Microenvironment-Based Risk Stratification of Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Head Neck. 2024 Sep 28. doi: 10.1002/hed.27945. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Alhadi Almangush^{1

2

3

4}, Lauri Jouhi⁵, Caj Haglund^{6

7}, Jaana Hagström^{1

6

8}, Antti A Mäkitie^{2

5

9}, Ilmo Leivo^{10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
² Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
³ Department of Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
⁴ Faculty of Dentistry, Misurata University, Misurata, Libya.
⁵ Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
⁶ Research Programs Unit, Translational Cancer Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁷ Department of Surgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
⁸ Department of Oral Pathology and Radiology, University of Turku, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
⁹ Division of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases, Department of Clinical Sciences, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁰ Institute of Biomedicine, Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
¹¹ Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland.

PMID: 39340223
DOI: 10.1002/hed.27945

Abstract

Background: Evaluation of the prognostic impact of tumor microenvironment (TME) has received attention in recent years. We introduce a TME-based risk stratification for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC).

Material and methods: A total of 182 patients treated for OPSCC at the Helsinki University Hospital were included. TME-based risk stratification was designed combining tumor-stroma ratio and stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes assessed in hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections.

Results: In multivariable analysis, TME-based risk stratification associated with poor disease-free survival with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.68 (95% CI 1.11-6.48, p = 0.029). In addition, the proposed risk stratification was associated with poor disease-specific survival (HR 2.687, 95% CI 1.28-5.66, p = 0.009) and poor overall survival (HR 2.21, 95% CI 1.23-3.99, p = 0.008).

Conclusion: Our TME-based risk stratification provides a powerful prognostic tool that can be used in daily treatment planning of OPSCC together with tumor-related prognostic markers.

Keywords: oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma; prognosis; tumor microenvironment; tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes; tumor‐stroma ratio.

Abstract

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