The Immune Signature of CD8+CCR7+ T Cells in the Peripheral Circulation Associates with Disease Recurrence in Patients with HNSCC

Purpose: Patients with cancer have an increased frequency of circulating apoptosis-sensitive CD8 + CCR7 neg T cells and few CD8 + CCR7 + T cells versus normal controls. The functional and clinical significance of this imbalance was investigated using peripheral blood of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC). Experimental Design: The frequency of circulating CD8 + T cells co-expressing CCR7, CD45RO, CD28, and Annexin V (ANXV) was evaluated in 67 patients and 57 normal controls by flow cytometry. Spearman rank correlations among immunophenotypic profiles were analyzed. Recursive partitioning classified subjects as patients or normal controls based on CD8 + CCR7 + T-cell percentages. Kaplan–Meier plots estimated disease-free survival (DFS). Results: The CD8 + CCR7 + T-cell frequency was low, whereas that of total CD8 + CCR7 neg and ANXV-binding CD8 + CCR7 neg T cells was higher in patients with HNSCC than in normal controls ( P + T cells ( P + CD45RO neg CCR7 + (T N ) cell frequency ( P P + CD45RO + CCR7 + (T CM ) T cells and of the two CCR7 neg subsets (T PM and T TD ). In recursive partitioning models, the CD8 + CCR7 + T-cell frequency of 31% distinguished patients from normal controls with 77% to 88% accuracy after cross-validation. In 25 patients tested before any therapy, the CD8 + CCR7 + T-cell frequency of less than 28% predicted disease recurrence within 4 years of definitive therapy ( P Conclusion: The CD8 + CCR7 + T-cell frequency in HNSCC patients9 blood tested at diagnosis can discriminate them from normal controls and predicts disease recurrence. Clin Cancer Res; 19(4); 889–99. ©2012 AACR .