Increased High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Viral Load Is Associated With Immunosuppressed Microenvironment and Predicts a Worse Long-Term Survival in Cervical Cancer Patients.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

To evaluate the correlation between tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and the viral load of high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) in cervical cancer patients.

METHODS:

A total of 62 cervical cancer patients were recruited during 1993-1994 and assigned into four groups treated with radiotherapy alone or radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy and/or thermotherapy. Ki67+ tumor cells, CD4+, CD8+, FoxP3+, OX40+ and granzyme B+ TILs were detected by immunohistochemistry. The viral load of HR-HPV in biopsy tissues before therapy was detected by in situ hybridization.

RESULTS:

The patients with high HPV viral load showed a significantly lower 15-year survival rate and an advanced International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage and increased recurrence rate. The distribution of Ki67+ tumor cells, FoxP3+ TILs, and CD8+/FoxP3+ ratio was obviously different between low and high HPV viral load groups. A worse clinical outcome was also implicated with increased HPV viral load tested by Cox regression analysis.

CONCLUSIONS:

Patients with increased HR-HPV viral load tend to be resistant to therapy with decreased immune surveillance in the immune microenvironment. Thus, HR-HPV viral load would influence the local immune microenvironment, and then further affect the survival of cervical cancer patients.

• Authors: Meng Cao, Ying Wang, Depu Wang, Yixin Duan, Wei Hong, Nana Zhang, Walayat Shah, Yili Wang, Hongwei Chen
• Journal: American journal of clinical pathology (Am J Clin Pathol) Vol. 153 Issue 4 Pg. 502-512 (03 09 2020) ISSN: 1943-7722 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 31819948 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © American Society for Clinical Pathology, 2019. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].

Topics

• Adult
• Carcinoma, Squamous Cell (mortality, pathology, virology)
• Female
• Humans
• Immunocompromised Host
• Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating (pathology)
• Middle Aged
• Neoplasm Staging
• Papillomaviridae (isolation & purification)
• Papillomavirus Infections (mortality, pathology, virology)
• Prognosis
• Survival Rate
• Tumor Microenvironment (immunology)
• Uterine Cervical Neoplasms (mortality, pathology, virology)
• Viral Load