Molecular subtypes of oropharyngeal cancer show distinct immune microenvironment related with immune checkpoint blockade response.

Background: Oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) exhibits diverse immunological properties; however, their implications for immunotherapy are unknown.

Methods: We analysed 37 surgically resected and nine recurrent or metastatic anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1)-treated OPC tumours. OPCs were classified into immune-rich (IR), mesenchymal (MS) and xenobiotic (XB) subtypes based on RNA-sequencing data.

Results: All IR type tumours were human papillomavirus (HPV) positive, most XB types were HPV negative, and MS types showed mixed HPV status. The IR type showed an enriched T cell exhaustion signature with PD-1 CD8 T cells and type I macrophages infiltrating the tumour nest on multiplex immunohistochemistry. The MS type showed an exclusion of CD8 T cells from the tumour nest and high MS and tumour growth factor-β signatures. The XB type showed scant CD8 T cell infiltration and focal CD73 expression. The IR type was associated with a favourable response signature during anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy and showed a high APOBEC mutation signature, whereas the MS and XB types showed resistance signature upregulation. Among anti-PD-1/PD-L1-treated OPC patients, the IR type showed a favourable clinical response (3/4 patients), whereas the XB type showed early progression (3/3 patients).

Conclusion: Our analysis classified OPCs into three subtypes with distinct immune microenvironments that are potentially related to the response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy.