The main objective of our study was to understand the impact of immune cell composition and the tumor-reactivity of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in HPV-positive (HPV) and HPV-negative (HPV) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). TIL cultures were established from primary HNSCC tumors, the T cell subsets were phenotypically characterized using flow cytometry, and Interferon (IFN)-γ ELISA assay was used to determine TIL function. NanoString Immune Profiler was used to determine an immune signature by HPV-status, and multiplex immunohistochemistry (MIHC) was used to quantify immune cell distributions and their spatial relationships. Results showed that HPV and HPV HNSCC had similar capacity to expand IFN-γ reactive TIL populations, and these TIL populations had similar characteristics. NanoString analysis revealed increased differential expression of genes related to B cell functions in HPV HNSCC, which were significant at a Benjamini-Yekutieli adjusted p-value of < 0.001. MIHC also displayed increased CD8 T cell and CD19/CD20 B cell densities in the tumor region of HPV HNSCC as opposed to HPV HNSCC (p < 0.01). Increases in a combined metric of tumor B cell content and stromal plasma cell content was associated with increased progression-free survival in HPV HNSCC patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy (p = 0.03). In summary, TIL populations expanded from HPV and HPV HNSCC displayed similar IFN-γ reactivity. However, we identified a strong B-cell signature present within HPV HNSCC, and higher B and plasma cell content associated with improved PFS in HPV HNSCC patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
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