Published on May 12, 2021 – Updated on October 26, 2021

Role of the tumor immune microenvironment in the response to treatment of head and neck cancers

Exploration of the immune infiltrate with GeoMx - Digital Spatial Profiler (Nanostring): DAPI (blue), CD45 (red) and panCK (green)

Exploration of the immune infiltrate with GeoMx - Digital Spatial Profiler (Nanostring): DAPI (blue), CD45 (red) and panCK (green)

The role of the immune system is important in the development and progression of head and neck cancers (HNSCC). This type of tumour has become eligible for new immunotherapies. Clinical trials have reported a benefit in terms of overall survival in metastatic patients, but only for 10 to 20% of them.  The immune infiltrate also seems to influence the response to radiotherapy in these cancers. All these elements have led to a major interest in detecting and characterising the immune response and assessing its impact on the response to treatment. Given the potential toxicity, current efficacy and high cost of immune checkpoint inhibitors, there is a need to identify biomarkers that can more accurately select patients who may benefit.
We are exploring in depth the immune infiltrate of patients with HNSCC tumors using standard immunohistochemistry, a high-throughput spatial protein analysis technology (GeoMx DSP, Nanostring) and a transcriptomic approach (RNAseq). This characterisation will provide information on the nature of the immune cell populations, their level of activation and their state of differentiation. These explorations are conducted on cohorts of patients treated by radiotherapy-chemotherapy (Onco-TEC Group, AAP UCA Emergence 2019) and radiotherapy-immunotherapy (PembroRAD trial, Fondation ARC, AAP SIGN'IT 2020). 
As immunotherapy is increasingly used in HNSCC cancers, the need for predictive biomarkers in this clinical context becomes imperative not only to provide personalised medicine, but also to highlight new combined therapeutic approaches that involve the identification of potential targets in these anatomically and biologically heterogeneous tumors.
 

Other GCCA Partners

  • Jean PERRIN Comprehensive Cancer Center - Pathology Department
  • Jean PERRIN Comprehensive Cancer Center – Clinical Research Division
  • Jean PERRIN Comprehensive Cancer Center - Radiotherpay Department
  • Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital - Pathology Department
  • Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital - Otolaryngology Cervico-Facial Surgery Department