Image Analysis Reveals Differences in Tumor Multinucleations in Black and White Patients With Human Papillomavirus-Associated Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Authors

Can F Koyuncu
Reetoja Nag
Cheng Lu
Germán Corredor
Vidya S Viswanathan
Vlad C Sandulache
Pingfu Fu
Kailin Yang
Quintin Pan
Zelin Zhang
Jun Xu
Deborah J Chute
Wade L Thorstad
Farhoud Faraji
Justin A Bishop
Mitra Mehrad
Patricia D Castro
Andrew G Sikora
Lester D R Thompson
Rebecca D Chernock
Krystle A Lang Kuhs
Jay K Wasman
Jingqin R Luo
David J Adelstein
Shlomo A Koyfman
James S Lewis
Anant Madabhushi

Publication Date

11-1-2022

Journal

Cancer

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Understanding biological differences between different racial groups of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) patients, who have differences in terms of incidence, survival, and tumor morphology, can facilitate accurate prognostic biomarkers, which can help develop personalized treatment strategies.

METHODS: This study evaluated whether there were morphologic differences between HPV-associated tumors from Black and White patients in terms of multinucleation index (MuNI), an image analysis-derived metric that measures density of multinucleated tumor cells within epithelial regions on hematoxylin-eosin images and previously has been prognostic in HPV-associated OPSCC patients. In this study, the authors specifically evaluated whether the same MuNI cutoff that was prognostic of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival in their previous study, T

RESULTS: MuNI was statistically significantly different between Black (mean, 3.88e-4; median, 3.67e-04) and White patients (mean, 3.36e-04; median, 2.99e-04), with p = .0078. Using T

CONCLUSIONS: Histological difference between White and Black patient tumors in terms of multinucleated tumor cells suggests the need for considering population-specific prognostic biomarkers for personalized risk stratification strategies for HPV-associated OPSCC patients.

Keywords

Alphapapillomavirus, Biomarkers, Carcinoma, Squamous Cell, Eosine Yellowish-(YS), Head and Neck Neoplasms, Hematoxylin, Humans, Oropharyngeal Neoplasms, Papillomaviridae, Papillomavirus Infections, Prognosis, Retrospective Studies, Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck, Black, HPV, image analysis, MuNI, OPSCC, White

Comments

PMID: 36066461