% IMPORTANT: The following is UTF-8 encoded. This means that in the presence % of non-ASCII characters, it will not work with BibTeX 0.99 or older. % Instead, you should use an up-to-date BibTeX implementation like “bibtex8” or % “biber”. @ARTICLE{Rhle:182606, author = {A. Rühle$^*$ and J. Todorovic and S. S. K. Spohn$^*$ and E. Gkika$^*$ and C. Becker and A. Knopf and C. Zamboglou$^*$ and T. Sprave$^*$ and M. Werner and A.-L. Grosu$^*$ and G. Kayser and N. Nicolay$^*$}, title = {{P}rognostic value of tumor-infiltrating immune cells and immune checkpoints in elderly head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma patients undergoing definitive (chemo)radiotherapy.}, journal = {Radiation oncology}, volume = {17}, number = {1}, issn = {1748-717X}, address = {London}, publisher = {BioMed Central}, reportid = {DKFZ-2022-02787}, pages = {181}, year = {2022}, note = {#EA:E055#LA:E055#}, abstract = {Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are associated with locoregional control (LRC) in head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients undergoing (chemo)radiotherapy. As immunosenescence results in reduced immune activity, the role of TILs in elderly HNSCC patients may differ compared to younger patients, providing a rationale to study the prognostic role of TILs and immune checkpoints (ICs) in this population.Sixty-three HNSCC patients aged ≥ 65 years undergoing definitive (chemo)radiotherapy between 2010 and 2019 with sufficient material from pre-treatment biopsies were included in the analysis. Immunohistochemical stainings of CD3, CD4, CD8, PD-L1, TIM3, LAG3, TIGIT and CD96, and of osteopontin as an immunosenescence-associated protein were performed. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were determined using the Kaplan-Meier method, and Fine-Gray's models were used for locoregional failure (LRF) analyses.While there was no correlation between patient age and IC expression, osteopontin levels correlated with increasing age (r = 0.322, p < 0.05). Two-year OS, PFS, and LRC were $44\%,$ $34\%,$ and $71\%,$ respectively. Increased LAG3 expression, both intraepithelial (SHR = 0.33, p < 0.05) and stromal (SHR = 0.38, p < 0.05), and elevated stromal TIM3 expression (SHR = 0.32, p < 0.05) corresponded with reduced LRFs. Absent tumoral PD-L1 expression (TPS = $0\%)$ was associated with more LRFs (SHR = 0.28, p < 0.05). There was a trend towards improved LRF rates in elderly patients with increased intraepithelial CD3 + (SHR = 0.52, p = 0.07) and CD8 + (SHR = 0.52, p = 0.09) TIL levels.LAG3, TIM3 and TPS are promising biomarkers in elderly HNSCC patients receiving (chemo)radiotherapy. Considering the frequency of non-cancer related deaths in this population, the prognostic value of these biomarkers primarily relates to LRC.}, keywords = {Elderly (Other) / Geriatric (Other) / Head-and-neck cancer (Other) / Immune checkpoint (Other) / Immunosenescence (Other) / Radiotherapy (Other) / Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (Other)}, cin = {E055 / FR01}, ddc = {610}, cid = {I:(DE-He78)E055-20160331 / I:(DE-He78)FR01-20160331}, pnm = {315 - Bildgebung und Radioonkologie (POF4-315)}, pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-315}, typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16}, pubmed = {pmid:36376922}, doi = {10.1186/s13014-022-02153-9}, url = {https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/182606}, }