Characteristics of B lymphocyte infiltration in HPV⁺ head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is an important etiological factor of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). HPV⁺ HNSCC patients usually have a better prognosis, which probably results from the higher infiltration of B lymphocytes. This study was purposed to detect the infiltration of B lymphocyte subsets and the correlation between B lymphocyte subsets and the prognosis in HPV-related HNSCC. In this study, 124 HPV⁺ and 513 HPV^- HNSCC samples were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database for transcriptomic analysis. Infiltration of B lymphocytes subsets was detected with 7 HPV⁺ HNSCC and 13 HPV^- HNSCC tissues through immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. One HPV^- HNSCC sample was detected with single-cell sequencing for chemokine analysis. In the results, the infiltration of plasma cells (CD19⁺ CD38⁺ ) and memory B cells (MS4A1⁺ CD27⁺ ) was higher in HPV⁺ HNSCC samples. High infiltration of plasma cells and memory B cells was related to a better prognosis. High density of B lymphocytes was positively correlated with high CXCL13 production mainly from CD4⁺ T lymphocytes in HNSCC. These results indicated that a high density of plasma cells and memory B cells could predict excellent prognosis. CD4⁺ T lymphocytes might affect B lymphocytes and their subsets through the CXCL13/CXCR5 axis in HNSCC.