Poster Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2018

CD4/CD8 ratio correlates with lymph node involvement in patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma. (#312)

Shaun Liow 1 , Katie Meehan 1 , Bella Nguyen 1 2 , Chady Sader 3 4 , Peter Friedland 4 5 6 , Andrew Lindsay 7 , Camile Farah 8 , Colin Tang 9 , Michael Millward 2 10 , Annette Lim 1 2
  1. Translational Cancer Pathology Laboratory, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
  2. Medical Oncology, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, WA, Australia
  3. Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery, St John of God Hospital, Murdoch, WA, Australia
  4. Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, WA, Australia
  5. School of Surgery, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
  6. School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, WA, Australia
  7. Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery, Hollywood Private Hospital, Nedlands, WA, Australia
  8. Oral Health Centre of WA, The University of Western Australia Dental School, Crawley, WA, Australia
  9. Radiation Oncology, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, WA, Australia
  10. School of Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

Aims. Lymph node involvement is an independent marker of worse outcome for patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). Immune suppression is thought to be a major contributor to tumour progression and thus characterising the immune response may identify biomarkers of prognosis. CD4/CD8 ratios have been postulated as a potential surrogate marker for immune suppression and activation in cancer but their utility is not clear in HNC. This study investigates the relationship between peripheral blood CD4/CD8 ratios and clinicopathological variables in a cohort of patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC).

Methods. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from OCSCC (n=10 node positive, n=13 node negative, n=4 recurrent/metastatic) patients pre-treatment and analysed via conventional flow cytometry. Correlative clinicopathological data was collected for all patients. Statistical analysis was performed using RStudio (version 1.1.423).

Results. OCSCC patients stratified by nodal involvement status showed statistically significant differences in CD4/CD8 ratio. Patients with nodal involvement had a mean CD4/CD8 ratio of 5.01±0.91 compared to node negative patients who had a mean CD4/CD8 ratio of 2.45±0.38 (p=0.02).  Stratified by TNM stage, mean CD4/CD8 ratios increased with stage but this was not significant (stage I 2.47±0.73; stage II 3.11±0.67; stage III 5.00±0; stage IV 4.34±0.87).

Conclusions. CD4/CD8 ratios were significantly higher in patients with lymph node involvement. Although not statistically significant, the association between a higher CD4/CD8 ratio and more advanced TNM stage aligns with this key finding. Continued follow-up of these patients is required for survival analysis but a significant correlation with nodal involvement highlights the potential utility of the CD4/CD8 ratio.