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Peripheral blood leukocytosis has been implicated in promoting tumor progression leading to worse survival, but the mechanisms behind this phenomenon remain unexplored. Here, we examined the prognostic role of pretreatment white blood cell (WBC) count and clinicopathologic parameters in the context of CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) and myeloperoxidase+ tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) in patients with anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC) treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT). After a median follow-up of 26 months, leukocytosis correlated with advanced T-stage (p < 0.001) and N-stage (p < 0.001), and predicted for worse distant-metastasis-free survival (p = 0.006), disease-free-survival (DFS, p = 0.029), and overall survival (p = 0.013). Importantly, leukocytosis was associated with a lower intraepithelial CD8+ TIL density (p = 0.014), whereas low CD8+ TIL expression in the intraepithelial compartment was associated with worse DFS (p = 0.028). Additionally, high TAN expression in the peritumoral compartment was associated with a significantly lower density of CD8+ TIL (p = 0.039), albeit, TAN expression lacked prognostic value. In conclusion, leukocytosis constitutes an important prognostic marker in ASCC patients treated with CRT. In conjunction with intratumoral TIL and TAN, these data provide for the first time important insight on the correlation of peripheral blood leukocytosis with the intratumoral immune contexture and could be relevant for future patient stratification using immunotherapies in ASCC.
Tumor cells frequently overexpress heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and present it on their cell surface, where it can be recognized by pre‐activated NK cells. In our retrospective study the expression of Hsp70 was determined in relation to tumor‐infiltrating CD56+ NK cells in formalin‐fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumor specimens of patients with SCCHN (N = 145) as potential indicators for survival and disease recurrence. All patients received radical surgery and postoperative cisplatin‐based radiochemotherapy (RCT). In general, Hsp70 expression was stronger, but with variable intensities, in tumor compared to normal tissues. Patients with high Hsp70 expressing tumors (scores 3–4) showed significantly decreased overall survival (OS; p = 0.008), local progression‐free survival (LPFS; p = 0.034) and distant metastases‐free survival (DMFS; p = 0.044), compared to those with low Hsp70 expression (scores 0–2), which remained significant after adjustment for relevant prognostic variables. The adverse prognostic value of a high Hsp70 expression for OS was also observed in patient cohorts with p16‐ (p = 0.001), p53‐ (p = 0.0003) and HPV16 DNA‐negative (p = 0.001) tumors. The absence or low numbers of tumor‐infiltrating CD56+ NK cells also correlated with significantly decreased OS (p = 0.0001), LPFS (p = 0.0009) and DMFS (p = 0.0001). A high Hsp70 expression and low numbers of tumor‐infiltrating NK cells have the highest negative predictive value (p = 0.00004). In summary, a strong Hsp70 expression and low numbers of tumor‐infiltrating NK cells correlate with unfavorable outcome following surgery and RCT in patients with SCCHN, and thus serve as negative prognostic markers.