Proliferative exhausted CD8⁺ T cells exacerbate long-lasting anti-tumor effects in human papillomavirus-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

ABSTRACT: The survival prognosis of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive and HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is largely different, and little is known about the anti-tumor mechanism of tumor-infiltrated exhausted CD8⁺ T cells (Tex) in HNSCC. We performed cell-level multi-omics sequencing on human HNSCC samples to decipher the multi-dimensional characteristics of Tex cells. A proliferative exhausted CD8⁺ T cell cluster (P-Tex) which was beneficial to survival outcomes of patients with HPV-positive HNSCC was identified. Interestingly, P-Tex cells expressed CDK4 genes as high as cancer cells, which could be simultaneously inhibited by CDK4 inhibitors and might be a potential reason for the ineffectiveness of CDK4 inhibitors in treating HPV-positive HNSCC.

SUBMITTER: Cheng D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9946444 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature