ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the relationship between human papilloma virus (HPV)16 E6/7-specific T cell immune response in the periphral blood and clinical features and prognosis of patients with cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC).Methods:Seventy-two patients pathologically diagnosed with CSCC admitted to Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from June 2013 to October 2015, and 75 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. The special responses of peripheral blood T cells to E6 and E7 overlapping peptides before treatment were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The differences of frequency and intensity expression of specific immune responses between two groups were analyzed by chi-square χ2 test and nonparametric test. The correlation between antigen-specific immune response and T cell subsets was analyzed by Spearman test. Log-rank test and Cox’s regression model were employed for univariate and multivariate prognostic analyses. Results:The frequencies of HPV16 E6-ad E7-specific T cell responses in CSCC patients were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (51.39% vs. 29.33%, P=0.006 and 45.83% vs.25.33%, P=0.009), and the mean intensities were also considerably higher than those in healthy controls (20.00 SFC/10 6vs.10.76 SFC/10 6, P<0.001 and 16.17 SFC/10 6vs.10.72 SFC/10 6, P=0.017). The intensity of HPV16 E6-specific T cell immune response was positively correlated with the CD 4+/CD 8+ ratio in the peripheral blood of CSCC patients ( r=0.279, P=0.018). And a strong correlation was noted between E7-specific T cell immune response intensity and increasing proportion of NK+ cells ( r=0.274, P=0.020). Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that therapeutic mode (radiotherapy vs. concurrent chemoradiotherapy, HR=2.918, 95% CI 1.454-5.854, P=0.003) and E6-specific T cell response (response group vs. no response group, HR=0.491, 95% CI 0.243-0.99, P=0.047) were the independent prognostic factors influencing the clinical prognosis. The 5-year overall survival in patients with HPV16 E6-specific T cell responses was significantly higher than that in the no response group (64% vs.41%, P=0.041). Conclusions:The intensity of HPV16 E6-specific T cell immune response is positively correlated with the CD 4+/CD 8+ ratio. No HPV16 E6-specific T cell response and radiotherapy alone are more likely to cause poor prognosis of CSCC patients.