| Literature DB >> 35451620 |
Emma J de Ruiter1,2, Sangeeta K Bisheshar3,4, Reinout H de Roest5, Frederik W R Wesseling6, Frank J P Hoebers6, Mari F C M van den Hout7, C René Leemans5, Ruud H Brakenhoff5, Remco de Bree8, Chris H J Terhaard9, Stefan M Willems3,4.
Abstract
This study aimed to assess the prognostic value of intratumoral CD57+ cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and to examine the reproducibility of these analyses using QuPath. Pretreatment biopsies of 159 patients with HPV-negative, stage III/IV HNSCC treated with chemoradiotherapy were immunohistochemically stained for CD57. The number of CD57+ cells per mm2 tumor epithelium was quantified by two independent observers and by QuPath, software for digital pathology image analysis. Concordance between the observers and QuPath was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). The correlation between CD57 and clinicopathological characteristics was assessed; associations with clinical outcome were estimated using Cox proportional hazard analysis and visualized using Kaplan-Meier curves. The patient cohort had a 3-year OS of 65.8% with a median follow-up of 54 months. The number of CD57+ cells/mm2 tumor tissue did not correlate to OS, DFS, or LRC. N stage predicted prognosis (OS: HR 0.43, p = 0.008; DFS: HR 0.41, p = 0.003; LRC: HR 0.24, p = 0.007), as did WHO performance state (OS: HR 0.48, p = 0.028; LRC: 0.33, p = 0.039). Quantification by QuPath showed moderate to good concordance with two human observers (ICCs 0.836, CI 0.805-0.863, and 0.741, CI 0.692-0.783, respectively). In conclusion, the presence of CD57+ TILs did not correlate to prognosis in advanced stage, HPV-negative HNSCC patients treated with chemoradiotherapy. Substantial concordance between human observers and QuPath was found, confirming a promising future role for digital, algorithm driven image analysis.Entities:
Keywords: Digital pathology; Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC); NK cells; Prognostic biomarkers; QuPath; Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs)
Mesh:
Substances:
Year: 2022 PMID: 35451620 PMCID: PMC9343309 DOI: 10.1007/s00428-022-03323-6
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Virchows Arch ISSN: 0945-6317 Impact factor: 4.535
Fig. 1Immunohistochemical analysis of the presence of CD57+ cells. (A) Stained sections of the TMA were digitized. (B) For each TMA core, the tumor epithelium was digitally annotated. (C) TMA cores were identified using QuPath’s TMA dearranger function and tumor annotations were imported in QuPath. (D) Within the annotated area, the number of CD57-positive cells were independently scored by two head and neck researchers. (E) Positive cells within the annotated area were counted using the Positive Cell Detection command.
Patient characteristics
| Age (years) | Mean (SD) | 59.2 | (6.2) |
| Sex | Male Female | 98 61 | (61.6%) (38.4%) |
| WHO performance status | 0 1 2 Unknown | 39 98 5 19 | (23.9%) (61.6%) (3.1%) (11.3%) |
| ACE-27 comorbidity score | None (0) Mild (1) Moderate (2) Severe (3) | 54 78 26 1 | (34.0%) (49.1%) (16.4%) (0.6%) |
| Prior malignancy | 12 | (7.5%) | |
HNSCC Other | 3 9 | (1.9%) (5.7%) | |
| Tobacco use | Current Former Never Unknown | 114 38 6 1 | (71.7%) (23.9%) (3.8%) (0.6%) |
| Smokackyears | Mean (SD) | 40.0 | (17.9) |
| Alcohol | Current 1–3/day ≥4/day Former Never Unknown | 107 53 54 34 16 2 | (67.3%) (33.3%) (34.0%) (21.4%) (10.1%) (1.3%) |
| Tumor location | Oropharynx Hypopharynx Larynx | 72 56 31 | (45.3%) (35.2%) (19.5%) |
| T stage | T1 T2 T3 T4a T4b | 4 29 59 53 14 | (2.5%) (18.2%) (37.1%) (33.3%) (8.8%) |
| N stage | N0 N1 N2a N2b N2c N3 Unknown | 22 22 11 52 45 6 1 | (13.8%) (13.8%) (6.9%) (32.7%) (28.3%) (3.8%) (0.6%) |
| TNM stage | III IVa IVb | 30 111 18 | (18.9%) (69.8%) (11.3%) |
| Chemotherapy completed | Yes Switch No | 117 16 26 | (73.6%) (10.1%) (16.4%) |
| Treatment outcome | No recurrence Residue/recurrence Locoregional Distant | 104 55 41 30 | (65.4%) (34.6%) (25.8%) (18.9%) |
Correlation between CD57 and clinicopathological characteristics. For each subgroup, the median CD57 count, interquartile ranges, and p-values are displayed
| CD57 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Age | ||
| 0.09 | ||
| Sex | ||
Male Female | 20.8 [9.0–38.7] 15.9 [4.1–41.3] | 0.20 |
| ACE-27 | ||
None/mild Moderate/severe | 17.0 [8.8–40.6] 20.0 [8.8–34.4] | 0.96 |
| WHO | ||
<2 ≥2 | 21.0 [5.4–77.2] 16.1 [8.8–36.6] | 0.25 |
| Tumor location | ||
Oropharynx Hypopharynx Larynx | 16.1 [8.2–40.6] 20.1 [5.8–40.9] 11.9 [9.0–25.7] | 0.66 |
| T stage | ||
T1–3 T4 | 18.0 [9.1–40.8] 16.8 [3.1–40.3] | 0.27 |
| N stage | ||
N0–1 N2–3 | 19.8 [8.9–39.9] 16.9 [8.6–41.6] | 0.99 |
Correlation between intratumoral CD57+ and treatment outcome. Hazard ratios (HR), 95% confidence interval (95%CI), and p-values are displayed
| Marker | Comparison | No. of cases | HR | 95%CI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall survival | |||||
| CD57 | Per 1 increase (log2) | 159 | 0.96 | (0.81–1.15) | 0.68 |
| Tumor location | Larynx | 159 | Ref | ||
| Oropharynx | 1.96 | (0.97–3.95) | 0.073 | ||
| Hypopharynx | 1.22 | (0.58–2.57) | 0.61 | ||
| T stage | T1–3 vs T4 | 159 | 0.76 | (0.47–1.22) | 0.26 |
| N stage | N0–1 vs N2-3 | 159 | |||
| Age | Per year increase | 159 | 0.99 | (0.96–1.03) | 0.73 |
| Sex | Male vs female | 159 | 1.35 | (0.81–2.25) | 0.28 |
| ACE-27 | <2 vs ≥2 | 159 | 0.84 | (0.45–1.58) | 0.60 |
| WHO | <2 vs ≥2 | 141 | |||
| Disease-free survival | |||||
| CD57 | Per 1 increase (log2) | 159 | 0.99 | (0.84–1.17) | 0.91 |
| Tumor location | Larynx | 159 | Ref | ||
| Oropharynx | 1.71 | (0.90–3.26) | 0.11 | ||
| Hypopharynx | 1.27 | (0.64–2.50) | 0.49 | ||
| T stage | T1–3 vs T4 | 159 | 0.86 | (0.55–1.35) | 0.52 |
| N stage | N0–1 vs N2–3 | 159 | |||
| Age | Per year increase | 159 | 1.00 | (0.96–1.03) | 0.85 |
| Sex | Male vs female | 159 | 1.30 | (0.82–2.07) | 0.27 |
| ACE-27 | <2 vs ≥2 | 159 | 0.99 | (0.54–1.79) | 0.97 |
| WHO | <2 vs ≥2 | 141 | 0.60 | (0.33–1.07) | 0.083 |
| Locoregional control | |||||
| CD57 | Per 1 increase (log2) | 159 | 1.17 | (0.92–1.49) | 0.19 |
| Tumor location | Larynx | 159 | Ref | ||
| Oropharynx | 2.19 | (0.83–5.78) | 0.11 | ||
| Hypopharynx | 1.36 | (0.48–3.85) | 0.57 | ||
| T stage | T1–3 vs T4 | 159 | 0.78 | (0.43–1.50) | 0.48 |
| N stage | N0–1 vs N2–3 | 159 | |||
| Age | Per year increase | 159 | 1.00 | (0.95–1.05) | 0.88 |
| Sex | Male vs female | 159 | 0.96 | (0.53–1.94) | 0.96 |
| ACE-27 | <2 vs ≥2 | 159 | 1.76 | (0.63–4.95) | 0.29 |
| WHO | <2 vs ≥2 | 141 | |||
Fig. 2Visualization of the concordance between the two observers and QuPath. Plotted are the mean CD57+ cell counts per patient. Patients are ordered by the mean CD57+ cell counts of the two observers