Potential for treatment benefit of STING agonists plus immune checkpoint inhibitors in oral squamous cell carcinoma
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 17, 2025

Intramucosal Inoculation of Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells in Mice for Tumor Immune Profiling and Treatment Response Assessment
Published on: April 22, 2019
Chao Zhu1, Jiang Li1, Mianfeng Yao1
1Department of Stomatology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Background:
DNA-sensing receptor cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) and its downstream signaling effector stimulator of interferon genes (STING) present a novel role in anti-tumor immunity. Recently, the combination of cGAS-STING agonists and immunotherapy achieved promising results in some tumor types. The correlation between cGAS-STING signaling pathway and the tumor immune microenvironment in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is unclear.
Methods:
We utilized RNA sequencing and clinical data of OSCC patients from the TCGA database to investigate the correlation between cGAS-STING signaling pathway and the tumor immune microenvironment. Six cGAS-STING related genes were obtained from previous studies to establish the enrichment score of cGAS-STING pathway. The differences in survival rate, immune cell infiltration, immune-related genes expression and immune-related biological pathways were studied in the cGAS-STING clusters.
Results:
We observed a better prognosis of OSCC patients in the cGAS-STING high cluster. The infiltration ratio of immune cells and the expression profiles of immune-related genes were elevated when the cGAS-STING pathway is activated. The differentially expressed genes between high and low cGAS-STING clusters were enriched in immune-related biological pathways.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest the potential benefit of combining STING agonists and immune checkpoint inhibitors in OSCC patients.
Related Concept Videos
Tumor Immunotherapy
Cancer Vaccines
Cancer vaccines come in two categories: preventive (prophylactic) and treatment (active). Preventive vaccines, such as the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, protect against viruses that cause certain...
Cancer Therapies
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...
Combination Therapies and Personalized Medicine
The combination of the drug acetazolamide and sulforaphane is a good example of combination therapy to treat cancer. The cells in the interior of a large tumor often die due to the hypoxic and...
Targeted Cancer Therapies
There are several types of targeted therapies against...
Treatment Resistant Cancers

