Abstract
PURPOSE: We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of multiple immune cell markers including programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and poliovirus receptor (PVR) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) using archival tumor tissues METHODS: Patients diagnosed with HNSCC who have undergone surgical resection in 2005-2012 were included. Correlations between PVR and PD-L1 expression and patient characteristics were analyzed by analysis of variance. The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used to estimate survival. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: In total, 375 primary tumor tissues were analyzed using immunohistochemistry. High PVR expression was associated with a poor prognosis in terms of overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS), and tumors with high PVR expression were associated with a short OS. PD-L1 tumor expression did not have a prognostic impact on survival. Univariate analysis revealed that OS and RFS were affected by age and p16 and PVR expression; multivariate analysis revealed that age and p16 and PVR expression were the most important determinants of RFS. CONCLUSION: PVR overexpression is a poor prognostic factor in patients with HNSCC and co-targeting PVR and PD-L1 may be a promising therapeutic option that needs further investigation.