口咽癌是头颈鳞癌中重要的癌种之一,与人类乳头瘤状病毒(human papillomavirus, HPV)感染有关,其发病率逐年上升。但在临床治疗过程发现,HPV阳性口咽癌患者整体预后好于HPV阴性患者。目前,导致这一现象发生的分子机制尚不明确。本研究利用TCGA数据库,对HPV阳性和阴性患者的免疫细胞浸润和效应功能以及新抗原负荷进行了生物信息学分析。结果发现,HPV阳性患者的总体生存率比HPV阴性患者显著提高。对肿瘤组织中的免疫细胞相对丰度进行分析显示,HPV阳性患者的CD8 ⁺ T细胞较HPV阴性患者显著提高,其效应分子IFN-γ和Granzyme B表达量显著升高。同时对新抗原数目进行分析发现,HPV阳性患者肿瘤组织中新抗原较HPV阴性患者低。本研究结果为HPV相关口咽癌的治疗提供了一定的基础理论支撑。

Oropharyngeal cancer is one type of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that is commonly associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Its incidence is increasing year by year. However, in the clinical treatment, it is found that the overall prognosis of HPV positive oropharyngeal cancer patients is better than that of HPV negative patients. But till now, the underlying mechanism that leads to this phenomenon has not been fully elucidated. This research analyzed the immune cell infiltration and function, as well as neoantigen loads between HPV positive and negative patients by bioinformatic analysis using the TCGA database, and found that the overall survival rate of HPV positive patients was significantly higher than those in the HPV negative group. Analysis of the relative abundance of immune cells in tumor tissues showed that CD8 ⁺ T cells in HPV positive patients were significantly increased compared to those in HPV negative patients, and the expression levels of effector molecules, like IFN-γ and Granzyme B, were significantly upregulated. Meanwhile, the analysis of tumor neoantigen load (TNB) showed that the TNB of HPV positive patients was lower than that of the HPV negative group. This study provides some basic theoretical support for the treating HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer.