IS THERE A PROGNOSTIC ROLE OF FOCAL ADHESION KINASE AND CD8 IN SQUAMOUS CELL HEAD AND NECK CANCER TREATED WITH...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Biomarker Research

Background:

• Advanced squamous cell head and neck cancer (SCHNC) presents significant relapse rates and treatment toxicity.
• Personalized treatment strategies are needed due to the lack of reliable prognostic biomarkers.
• Human papillomavirus (HPV) negativity is a key factor in SCHNC patient stratification.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the prognostic significance of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and CD8 expression in HPV-negative SCHNC patients.
• To determine if FAK and CD8 expression can predict treatment outcomes in SCHNC.
• To evaluate the potential of FAK and CD8 as biomarkers for personalized radiotherapy in SCHNC.

Main Methods:

• Immunohistochemical staining was used to assess FAK and CD8 expression in 62 SCHNC tissue samples.
• Expression levels were categorized as high or low.
• Statistical analysis was performed to correlate expression levels with clinical outcomes like overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS).

Main Results:

• High FAK expression was observed in 37.1% of patients, and high CD8 expression in 25.8%.
• Patients with high FAK expression showed a significantly higher rate of relapses (p=0.04).
• Neither FAK nor CD8 expression significantly impacted OS (p=0.44, p=0.48) or RFS (p=0.21, p=0.31).
• A subgroup with high FAK and low CD8 expression exhibited the poorest 5-year OS (38.7%) and RFS (44.3%).

Conclusions:

• While high FAK expression is associated with increased relapse rates in HPV-negative SCHNC, its prognostic role alongside CD8 expression for survival outcomes remains unproven.
• The combination of high FAK and low CD8 expression may indicate a poorer prognosis, warranting further investigation.
• Current findings suggest FAK and CD8 expression may not be definitive biomarkers for radiotherapy personalization in this patient cohort.