ArticleAnnals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology2025
Tumor and blood B-cell abundance outperforms established immune checkpoint blockade response prediction signatures in head and neck cancer.
Article in Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Application of artificial intelligence in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.Annals of medicine · 2026Review
- Tertiary lymphoid structures in cancer: their development, composition, clinical prognosis, and the drivers of the anti-tumor responses.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Review
- Biomarkers Predictive of Immunotherapy Efficacy in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Current Insights and Future Perspectives.World journal of otorhinolaryngology - head and neck surgery · 2026Review
- Humanized and Charge-Optimized CSPG4-Specific CAR-T Cells show Enhanced Efficacy against Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Integrative Bulk and Single-Cell Transcriptomic Analysis Identifies a Hypoxia- and Lipid Metabolism-Related Prognostic Signature in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- GZMK expression within activated intratumoral T-cell subsets reflects differentiation efficiency and predicts response to cancer immunotherapy.NPJ precision oncology · 2026Article
- Oncolytic virus M1 reinvigorates CD8Cellular & molecular immunology · 2026Article
- Improving stratification in HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) using emerging immune-based biomarkers.Translational cancer research · 2026Article
- Towards the tumor microenvironment scoring methods for immune checkpoint inhibitor response.NPJ precision oncology · 2026Article
- Regulatory B cell-related gene signature predicts prognosis and immune landscape in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Tertiary lymphoid structure can be a potential therapeutic target for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (Review).Molecular and clinical oncology · 2026Review
- Targeting tumour-infiltrating B cells: mechanisms and advances in cancer therapy.Cell death & disease · 2025Review
- Tertiary lymphoid structures in cancer: spatiotemporal heterogeneity, immune orchestration, and translational opportunities.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2025Review
- Longitudinal liquid biopsy identifies an early predictive biomarker of immune checkpoint blockade response in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Induced B cell receptor diversity predicts PD-1 blockade immunotherapy response.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Multi-omics in immunotherapy research for HNSCC: present situation and future perspectives.NPJ precision oncology · 2025Review
- Hallmarks of artificial intelligence contributions to precision oncology.Nature cancer · 2025Review
- Targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 Signaling Pathway for Cancer Therapy: Focus on Biomarkers.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
24 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundImmunotherapy has improved the outcomes for some patients with head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma (HNSCC). However, the low and variable response rates observed highlight the need for robust response biomarkers to select patients for treatment. PATIENTS AND
methodsWe assembled and analyzed a large HNSCC dataset, encompassing 11 clinical cohorts including 1232 patient samples, spanning a variety of disease subtypes and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) treatment types, tissue sources, data modalities, and timing of measurements. We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the predictive power of various cell types, traditional biomarkers, and emerging predictors in both blood and tumor tissues of HNSCC patients.
resultsTumor B-cell infiltration emerged as a strong and robust predictor of both patient survival and ICB response. It outperformed all other established biomarkers of response to ICB, including the tertiary lymphoid structure signature and numerous T-cell-based signatures. B-cell infiltration was associated with a 'hot' antitumor microenvironment that promotes tumor eradication. Furthermore, B-cell levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) correlated strongly with tumor B-cell levels and demonstrated high predictive value for ICB response, with high odds ratios (≥7.8) in two independent clinical cohorts.
conclusionB-cell abundance, whether assessed in PBMCs or tumor tissues, is one of the strongest predictors of ICB response in HNSCC. For translation to patient care, measuring B-cell abundance in PBMCs via cytometry offers a practical and accessible tool for clinical decision making.
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