%0 Journal Article %A Tawk, Bouchra %A Wirkner, Ute %A Schwager, Christian %A Rein, Katrin %A Zaoui, Karim %A Federspil, Philippe A %A Adeberg, Sebastian %A Linge, Annett %A Ganswindt, Ute %A Hess, Julia %A Unger, Kristian %A Tinhofer, Ingeborg %A Budach, Volker %A Lohaus, Fabian %A Krause, Mechthild %A Guberina, Maja %A Stuschke, Martin %A Balermpas, Panagiotis %A Rödel, Claus %A Grosu, Anca L %A Schäfer, Henning %A Zips, Daniel %A Combs, Stephanie E %A Pigorsch, Steffi %A Zitzelsberger, Horst %A Baumeister, Philipp %A Kirchner, Thomas %A Bewerunge-Hudler, Melanie %A Weichert, Wilko %A Hess, Jochen %A Herpel, Esther %A Belka, Claus %A Baumann, Michael %A Debus, Jürgen %A Abdollahi, Amir %T Tumor DNA-Methylome derived Epigenetic Fingerprint Identifies HPV-negative Head and Neck Patients at Risk for Locoregional Recurrence after Postoperative Radiochemotherapy. %J International journal of cancer %V 150 %N 4 %@ 0020-7136 %C Bognor Regis %I Wiley-Liss %M DKFZ-2021-02262 %P 603-616 %D 2022 %Z #EA:E210#LA:E210# / 2022 Feb 15;150(4):603-616 %X Biomarkers with relevance for loco-regional therapy are needed in Human Papillomavirus negative aka HPV(-) Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC). Based on the premise that DNA methylation pattern is highly conserved, we sought to develop a reliable and robust methylome-based classifier identifying HPV(-) HNSCC patients at risk for loco-regional recurrence (LR) and all-event progression after postoperative radiochemotherapy (PORT-C). The training cohort consisted of HPVDNA negative HNSCC patients (n=128) homogeneously treated with PORT-C in frame of the German Cancer Consortium - Radiation Oncology Group (DKTK-ROG) multicenter biomarker trial. DNA Methylation analysis was performed using Illumina 450K and 850K-EPIC microarray technology. The performance of the classifier was integrated with a series of biomarkers studied in training set, namely hypoxia-, 5-microRNA (5-miR)-, stem-cell gene-expression signatures and immunohistochemistry (IHC)-based immunological characterization of tumors (CD3/CD8/PD-L1/PD1). Validation occurred in an independent cohort of HPV(-) HNSCC patients, pooled from two German centers (n=125). We identified a 38-methylation probe-based HPV(-) Independent Classifier of disease Recurrence (HICR) with high prognostic value for LR, distant metastases and overall survival (p<10-9 ). HICR remained significant after multivariate analysis adjusting for anatomical site, lymph node extracapsular extension (ECE) and size (T-stage). HICR high-risk tumors were enriched for younger patients with hypoxic tumors (15-gene signature) and elevated 5-miR score. After adjustment for hypoxia and 5-miR covariates, HICR maintained predicting all endpoints. HICR provides a novel mean for assessing the risk of LR in HPV(-) HNSCC patients treated with PORT-C and opens a new opportunity for biomarker-assisted stratification and therapy adaptation in these patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. %K DNA Methylation (Other) %K Disease Recurrence (Other) %K Head and Neck Cancers (Other) %K Radiotherapy (Other) %K Stratification (Other) %F PUB:(DE-HGF)16 %9 Journal Article %$ pmid:34648658 %R 10.1002/ijc.33842 %U https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/177034