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Authors:  Oguejiofor K, Galletta-Williams H, Dovedi SJ, Roberts DL, Stern PL, West CM

Online:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5362415/ 

Issue:  Oncotarget. 2017 Feb 28;8(9):14416-14427 

PMID:  28122336

Immunotherapies are beginning to revolutionise treatment paradigms in oncology with monoclonal antibodies (mAb) targeting T-cell co-inhibitory (e.g. PD-1/PD-L1) and co-stimulatory pathways (e.g. CTLA-4/CD28) demonstrating clinical utility. Some clinical studies demonstrate that responsiveness to PD-1/PD-L1 mAb therapy is greater in patients with expression of PD-L1 in the tumour microenvironment. However, robust responses have also been observed in patients with low or absent expression of PD-L1. Using multiplex immuno-fluorescent labelling we sought to determine how infiltration of tumours by CD8+ T-cells, their expression of PD-1, and the expression of PD-L1 on both tumours and CD68 cells (macrophages) correlated with HPV status and outcome in a cohort of 124 oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCC).