Exploring targets in oropharyngeal cancer - association with immune markers and AI-scoring of B7-H3 expression

Jacklyn Liu^{1

2}, Helen Bewicke-Copley², Shruti Patel², Oscar Emanuel², Nicholas Counsell³, Shachi J Sharma^{4

5

6}, Volker Schartinger⁷, Oliver Siefer^{5

6}, Ulrike Wieland⁸, Nora Würdemann⁵, Rocio Garcia-Marin⁹, Jozsef Dudas⁷, Dominic Patel¹⁰, David Allen¹¹, Naomi Guppy¹², Josep Linares¹¹, Adriana Resende-Alves¹⁰, David J Howard^{13

14}, Liam Masterson¹⁵, Francis M Vaz¹⁴, Paul O'Flynn¹⁴, Cillian T Forde¹⁴, Luke Williams², Umar Rehman¹, John A Hartley², Johannes Haybaeck^{16

17}, Herbert Riechelmann⁷, Amrita Jay¹⁰, Tim R Fenton¹⁸, Martin D Forster², Oluyori Adegun¹⁰, Kerry Chester^{1

2}, Jackie McDermott¹⁹, Ann Sandison²⁰, Manuel Rodriguez Justo⁹, Juan P Rodrigo¹⁰, Mario Hermsen, John A Tadross^{21

22}, Jens P Klussmann^{5

6}, Matt Lechner^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ UCL Division of Surgery and Interventional Sciences, London, UK.
² UCL Cancer Institute, London, UK.
³ Head and Neck Surgery, Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Centre, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
⁵ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
⁶ Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
⁷ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
⁸ Institute of Virology, National Reference Center for Papilloma and Polyomaviruses, University of Cologne, Oviedo, Germany.
⁹ Department of Head and Neck Oncology, Instituto de Investigacio´n Sanitaria Del Principado de Asturias (ISPA), Instituto Universitario de Oncologı´a Del Principado de Asturias (IUOPA), Centro de Investigacio´n Biome´dica en Red (CIBER-ONC), Oviedo, Spain.
¹⁰ Department of Histopathology, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
¹¹ HSL Advanced Diagnostics, HSL Advanced Diagnostics, London, UK.
¹² Breast Cancer Now Research Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.
¹³ ENT Department, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK.
¹⁴ Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital and Head and Neck Centre, London, UK.
¹⁵ Department of ENT, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁶ Institute of Pathology, Neuropathology and Molecular Pathology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
¹⁷ Diagnostic & Research Center for Molecular Biomedicine, Institute of Pathology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
¹⁸ Faculty of Medicine, School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
¹⁹ Department of Histopathology, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK.
²⁰ Department of Histopathology, Guys and St. Thomas' NHS Trust, London, UK.
²¹ Department of Histopathology and East Midlands & East of England Genomic Laboratory Hub, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
²² MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit, Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

PMID: 40071386
PMCID: PMC11897723
DOI: 10.1002/ctm2.70265

Exploring targets in oropharyngeal cancer - association with immune markers and AI-scoring of B7-H3 expression

Jacklyn Liu et al. Clin Transl Med. 2025 Mar.

. 2025 Mar;15(3):e70265.

doi: 10.1002/ctm2.70265.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ UCL Division of Surgery and Interventional Sciences, London, UK.
² UCL Cancer Institute, London, UK.
³ Head and Neck Surgery, Cancer Research UK and UCL Cancer Trials Centre, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
⁵ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
⁶ Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
⁷ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
⁸ Institute of Virology, National Reference Center for Papilloma and Polyomaviruses, University of Cologne, Oviedo, Germany.
⁹ Department of Head and Neck Oncology, Instituto de Investigacio´n Sanitaria Del Principado de Asturias (ISPA), Instituto Universitario de Oncologı´a Del Principado de Asturias (IUOPA), Centro de Investigacio´n Biome´dica en Red (CIBER-ONC), Oviedo, Spain.
¹⁰ Department of Histopathology, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
¹¹ HSL Advanced Diagnostics, HSL Advanced Diagnostics, London, UK.
¹² Breast Cancer Now Research Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.
¹³ ENT Department, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK.
¹⁴ Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital and Head and Neck Centre, London, UK.
¹⁵ Department of ENT, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁶ Institute of Pathology, Neuropathology and Molecular Pathology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
¹⁷ Diagnostic & Research Center for Molecular Biomedicine, Institute of Pathology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
¹⁸ Faculty of Medicine, School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
¹⁹ Department of Histopathology, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK.
²⁰ Department of Histopathology, Guys and St. Thomas' NHS Trust, London, UK.
²¹ Department of Histopathology and East Midlands & East of England Genomic Laboratory Hub, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
²² MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit, Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

PMID: 40071386
PMCID: PMC11897723
DOI: 10.1002/ctm2.70265

No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

**FIGURE 1**
Patterns of B7‐H3 staining observed in oropharyngeal cancer specimens: (A) Representative membranous and cytoplasmic staining, as seen across most cases, where positive staining was observed predominantly in cells at the periphery, adjacent to the stroma and furthest from the centre of tumour nests. (B) Positive staining of a well‐differentiated tumour, where expression is observed in the non‐keratinising cells at the periphery with negative expression in the keratinised interior of the tumour nest. (C) Positive staining of tumour‐associated lymphovascular endothelium. (D) Positive staining in the basal keratinocytes of the normal epithelium. (E, F) Boxplot with medians indicated of B7‐H3 tumoural and stromal H‐score relative to semi‐quantitative grading with statistically significant differences between groups for both the tumour (p < .001) and stroma score (p < .001).

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Exploring targets in oropharyngeal cancer - association with immune markers and AI-scoring of B7-H3 expression

Affiliations

Exploring targets in oropharyngeal cancer - association with immune markers and AI-scoring of B7-H3 expression

Authors

Affiliations

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Research Materials