Abstract 4644: Pretreatment diet, serum carotenoids and tocopherols influence tumor immune response in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
Authors: Argirion Ilona , Arthur Anna E. , Zarins Katie R. , Bellile Emily , Amlani Lahin , Taylor Jeremy M. , Wolf Greg T. , McHugh Jonathan , Nguyen Ariane , Mondul Alison M. , Rozek Laura S. ,   The University of Michigan Head and Neck SPORE Program
Published: September 2020

Background: Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have recently emerged as an important factor in informing treatment decisions for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Nevertheless, little is known about the role of modifiable risk factors, such as diet, on TILs.

Methods: Immunohistologic expression of CD4, CD8, CD68, CD103, CD104 and FOXP3 were assessed in tissue microarrays from 233 previously untreated HNSCC patients. Associations between these markers and pre-treatment dietary patterns were then evaluated using linear regression models. Logistic regression models assessing the associations between baseline serum carotenoids, tocopherols and TILs were conducted on a smaller subset of 70 patients. Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the joint association between diet and TILs on overall and recurrence free survival.

Results: High intake of a Western dietary pattern decreased CD8+ and FOXP3+ infiltrates after adjustment for age, sex and batch (p-value: 0.03 and 0.02, respectively). Multivariate logistic regression models demonstrated significant increases in CD8+ (OR: 2.21; p-value: 0.001) and FOXP3+ (OR: 4.26; p-value: &lt;0.0001) among patients with high gamma tocopherol. Conversely, high levels of xanthophylls (OR: 0.12; p-value:&lt;0.0001), lycopene (OR: 0.36; p-value: 0.0001) and total carotenoids (OR: 0.31; p-value: &lt;0.0001) significantly decreased CD68+. Among those with high CD4+ (HR: 1.77; p-value: 0.03), CD68+ (HR: 2.42; p-value: 0.004), CD103+ (HR: 3.64; p-value: 0.03) and FOXP3+ (HR: 3.09; p-value: 0.05) infiltrates, having a high Western dietary pattern significantly increased the risk of overall mortality when compared to those with a low Western dietary pattern, even after adjusting for age, sex, stage, disease site, HPV status, and TMA; a similar effect was found between the high Western dietary pattern and FOXP3+ (HR: 2.93; p-value: 0.0002) on recurrence free survival in fully adjusted models.

Conclusion: Dietary patterns and serum carotenoids may play an important role in modifying TILs, and ultimately, outcome after diagnosis with HNSCC. The results of this study could inform dietary interventions among high risk individuals in an attempt to moderate risk and improve HNSCC prognosis.

Citation Format: Ilona Argirion, Anna E. Arthur, Katie R. Zarins, Emily Bellile, Lahin Amlani, Jeremy M. Taylor, Greg T. Wolf, Jonathan McHugh, Ariane Nguyen, Alison M. Mondul, Laura S. Rozek, The University of Michigan Head and Neck SPORE Program. Pretreatment diet, serum carotenoids and tocopherols influence tumor immune response in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 4644.