Prognostic significance and population dynamics of peripheral monocytes in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Several inflammatory biomarkers are considered potential prognostic factors in various cancers. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic significance and population dynamics of pretreatment inflammatory biomarker levels in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC).

Methods: The influence of neutrophil counts, lymphocyte counts, monocyte counts, platelet counts, lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio on progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) was analyzed. We also analyzed the peripheral blood mononuclear cells collected from patients and healthy donors (HDs).

Results: Elevated monocyte count was an independent prognostic factor for PFS. Low LMR was an independent prognostic factor for OS. The proportion of intermediate monocytes was lower, and that of classical monocytes was higher in patients than in HDs. Furthermore, PD-L1 expression on monocytes was higher in patients than in HDs.

Conclusions: We showed the prognostic significance and population dynamics of peripheral monocytes in patients with OPSCC.

Keywords: Oropharyngeal cancer; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; monocyte; myeloid-derived suppressor cells; programmed cell Death-1 ligand 1.