Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30288365›Full record

ArticleOncoimmunology

Treatment-naïve HPV+ head and neck cancers display a T-cell-inflamed phenotype distinct from their HPV- counterparts that has implications for immunotherapy.

Steven F Gameiro, Farhad Ghasemi, John W Barrett, James Koropatnick, Anthony C Nichols, Joe S Mymryk, Saman Maleki Vareki

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Oncoimmunology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 97 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
97citing papers in PubMed
5.9field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

97 citing papers in PubMed, 139 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Long-term Survival and Molecular Biomarker Evaluation of a Phase II Cetuximab and Nivolumab Clinical Trial in Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2026
    Trial
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Efficacy of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors and Oncoviruses in Solid Tumors.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2026
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Review
  7. Targeting innate immunity to overcome immune evasion in HPV-associated cancers.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Review
  11. Review
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Article
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  19. Type I conventional dendritic cells and CD8Frontiers in immunology · 2024
    Article
  20. Article

37 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Steven F GameiroDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Farhad GhasemiDepartment of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
John W BarrettDepartment of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
James KoropatnickDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Anthony C NicholsDepartment of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Joe S MymrykDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Saman Maleki VarekiDepartment of Oncology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Western University · CALawson Health Research Institute · CA

Funding

CIHR MOP142491
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cancers progress when the immune system fails to identify and eliminate malignant cells. Recognition of this, combined with advances in tumor immunology, has allowed development of therapies that induce effective anti-tumor immune responses. For incompletely-understood reasons, effective responses to immunotherapy occur in some patients and not others. Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) are a common cancer type that can be divided into two subsets based on human papillomavirus (HPV) status. HPV status is a strong predictor of positive clinical outcome. Expression of exogenous viral antigens by HPV+, but not HPV-, HNSCC allows direct comparison of the immune status (immune cell presence and characteristics) between these two otherwise anatomically-similar tumors. Using TCGA data, we compared the immune landscape between HPV+ and HPV- treatment-naïve HNSCC. As compared to HPV- samples, HPV+ HNSCC exhibited a strong Th1 response characterized by increased infiltration with multiple types of immune cells and expression of their effector molecules. HPV+ HNSCC also expressed higher levels of CD39 and multiple T-cell exhaustion markers including LAG3, PD1, TIGIT, and TIM3 compared to HPV- HNSCC. Importantly, patients with higher expression of these exhaustion markers-indicative of a T-cell-inflamed tumor-correlated with markedly improved survival in HPV+, but not HPV-, HNSCC. Thus, profound differences exist between the immune landscape of HPV+ and HPV- HNSCC. These results suggest that immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy is a promising treatment strategy for HPV+ HNSCC, and that expression of immune checkpoint molecules could serve as a predictive biomarker of patient outcome in HPV+ HNSCC.

Indexed as

head and neck cancerhuman papillomavirusimmune checkpoint markerssurvivaltumour infiltrating lymphocytes

Identifiers

PMID30288365
PMCPMC6169583
OpenAlexW2886229095

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.