Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) arises through exposure to environmental carcinogens or malignant transformation by human papillomavirus (HPV). Here, we assessed the transcriptional profiles of 131,224 single cells from peripheral and intra-tumoral immune populations from patients with HPV- and HPV+ HNSCC and healthy donors. Immune cells within tumors of HPV- and HPV+ HNSCC displayed a spectrum of transcriptional signatures, with helper CD4+ T cells and B cells being relatively divergent and CD8+ T cells and CD4+ regulatory T cells being relatively similar. Transcriptional results were contextualized through multispectral immunofluorescence analyses and evaluating putative cell-cell communication based on spatial proximity. These analyses defined a gene expression signature associated with CD4+ T follicular helper cells that is associated with longer progression-free survival in HNSCC patients. The datasets and analytical approaches herein provide a resource for the further study of the impact of immune cells on viral- and carcinogen-induced cancers.

中文翻译：

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病毒和致癌物驱动的头颈癌的免疫状况。

头颈部鳞状细胞癌（HNSCC）是由于暴露于环境致癌物或人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）引起的恶性转化而引起的。在这里，我们评估了来自HPV-和HPV + HNSCC患者以及健康供体的外周和肿瘤内免疫群体中131,224个单细胞的转录谱。HPV-和HPV + HNSCC肿瘤内的免疫细胞表现出一系列转录特征，辅助CD4 + T细胞和B细胞相对发散，而CD8 + T细胞和CD4 +调节性T细胞相对相似。转录结果通过多光谱免疫荧光分析和基于空间邻近性的推定细胞-细胞通讯来进行背景分析。这些分析定义了与CD4 + T卵泡辅助细胞相关的基因表达特征，该基因表达特征与HNSCC患者的无进展生存期较长有关。本文的数据集和分析方法为进一步研究免疫细胞对病毒和致癌物诱导的癌症的影响提供了资源。