Pre‐treatment CD8+ tumour‐infiltrating lymphocyte density predicts distant metastasis after definitive treatment in patients with stage III/IV hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. (12th July 2018) - Ono, T.
Abstract : Objectives: Although inflammatory markers, such as the neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio, platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio and local immune markers have been shown to have prognostic utility, limited information is available regarding inflammatory and pre‐existing tumour‐infiltrating lymphocyte density and their association with prognosis in patients with hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. We investigated the prognostic ability of inflammatory markers and tumour‐infiltrating lymphocyte density in stage III and stage IV hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients receiving definitive treatment. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Kurume University Hospital. Participants: Ninety‐six stage III or stage IV hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients treated at the Kurume University Hospital between 2000 and 2014. Main outcome measures: Inflammatory markers and pre‐treatment tumour‐infiltrating lymphocyte density were examined from recorded haematologic data and immunohistochemical analysis. Results: Multivariate analyses showed that the CD8 + tumour‐infiltrating lymphocyte density was an independent predictive factor for distant metastasis and overall survival, whereas inflammatory markers, including the neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio and platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio, were not correlated with distant metastasis or overall survival. Conclusions: Higher pre‐treatment CD8 + tumour‐infiltrating lymphocyte density is a useful predictive biomarker for reduced distant metastasis and better prognosis.