Overall assessment of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: time to take notice

Abstract

Background: The immune response has an important role in cancer progression. At the same time, anti-tumor effect of the immune response has been speculated to cause destruction of cancer cells. Recent studies have highlighted the significance of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in different cancers. The International Immuno-Oncology Biomarkers Working Group has in 2017 published a practical review proposing a standardized method to assess TILs in the routine hematoxylin and eosin (HE) stained sections.

Aims/objectives: To discuss the association between TILs and survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Material and methods: We review recent studies having assessed TILs in HNSCC and showing that tumors having low TILs associate significantly with worse survival.

Results: These findings underline that HNSCC cases with low TILs might benefit from multimodality treatment and might be indicated to receive immunotherapy.

Conclusions: The evaluation of TILs using routine HE-stained sections is practical and can be considered in assessment of antitumor activity.

Significance: Here, we highlight the impact of overall assessment of TILs using the routine HE-stained specimens in HNSCC.

Chinese abstract

背景：免疫反应在癌症的发展过程中起着重要的作用。同时, 推测免疫反应的抗肿瘤作用也会导致癌细胞的破坏。最近的研究强调了不同癌症中肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞（TILs）的意义。国际免疫肿瘤学生物标记物工作组在2017年发表了一篇实用性评论, 提出了一种标准化的方法来评估苏木精和伊红（HE）染色的常规切片中的TIL。

目的：探讨头颈部鳞状细胞癌（HNSCC）中的TILs与生存的关系。

材料与方法：我们回顾了近年来评估HNSCC中的TILs的研究, 发现TILs低的肿瘤与生存率低有显著相关性。

结果：这些发现强调了低TILs的HNSCC患者可能受益于多模式治疗, 并有可能接受免疫治疗。

结论：常规HE染色切片评估TILs是可行的, 可作为评价TILs抗肿瘤活性的参考。

意义：在此, 我们强调使用常规HE染色标本对HNSCC的 TILs进行全面评估的影响。

Keywords:

• Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs)
• Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC)
• clinical behavior

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.