Immune Biomarker Study for Salivary Gland Carcinoma

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Aims of this study are analyses of tumor metabolome, tumor transcriptome and tumor proteome as well as of the immune infiltration, separated by histological entity. These data will subsequently be compared with the with the detailed immune status determined in the patient's peripheral blood and saliva using machine learning techniques, among others, to create a biomarker cluster for salivary gland tumors. These can be used in clinical routine. In addition, the investigators would like to study a subset of patients from freshly resected tumor organoids from freshly resected tumor tissue according to already established methods in order to mechanistic investigations of prognostic parameters.

Official Title
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Immune Biomarker Study for Salivary Gland Carcinoma

Conditions
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Salivary Gland Tumor, Benign Salivary Gland Tumor

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Sampling


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Observational group Initial diagnosis of a primary salivary gland carcinoma in the head and neck region (no squamous cell carcinomas) Specimen collection from the center of the tumor when the primary tumor is sufficiently large without that the pathological assessment is impaired Control group 1 Initial diagnosis of a benign salivary gland tumor in the head and neck region Specimen collection from the center of the tumor when the primary tumor is sufficiently large without that the pathological assessment is impaired Control group 2 functional diseases of the nose or ear (patients with the indication for functional ear surgery and rhinoplasty) Specimen collection with sufficiently large resectate during a functional nose surgery for all groups: Willingness of patients to collect blood, saliva and stool and consent to the preservation of all samples for study purposes. Age ≥ 18 years sufficient cognitive ability of the patients to understand the purpose of the study and to understand the purpose of the study and agree to it Exclusion Criteria: Distant metastasis at the time of diagnosis and simultaneous second cancers, i.e. at study inclusion Malignancy in the last 5 years regardless of location (except basal cell carcinoma or cis of the uterine cervix) Carcinomas for which specimen collection is not possible or likely without compromising the compromise the pathological evaluation Persistent drug or medication abuse Patients who are unable or unwilling to comply with protocol and to be treated Patients who are represented by a legal guardian Patients who are not suitable for participation in the study due to a language barrier

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Observational Arm<br>Initial diagnosis of primary salivary gland carcinoma in the head and neck region | Other: Sampling<br>* Evaluation of immune characteristics by using patient's stool, saliva and blood samples.<br>|
| Control Group 1<br>Initial diagnosis of a benign salivary gland tumor in the head and neck region | Other: Sampling<br>* Evaluation of immune characteristics by using patient's stool, saliva and blood samples.<br>|
| Control Group 2<br>Healthy control group. Functional diseases of the nose or ear (patients with the indication for functional ear surgery and rhinoplasty) without salivary gland tumor. | Other: Sampling<br>* Evaluation of immune characteristics by using patient's stool, saliva and blood samples.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Observation of changes in an established immune matrix (intratumoral and systemic) | Different immune cells and tumor cell markers will characterize immunological groups using cluster analysis. Immune matrix of patients assessed by liquid immune profile-based signature (LIPS) (acc. Zhou et al. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC), 2021) and Tumour Associated Lymphocytes (TAL). | Change of the immune matrix from baseline to the end of study period, up to 5 years | 
| Longitudinal immunophenotyping of the patients: Detection of about 30 distinct immune cell (sub)types together with their activation markers during study period | The distribution of immune cells and messenger substances in the blood will be examined by means of immunophenotyping in order to add the systemic immune cell composition. Flow cytometric assessment of the amount of circulating immune cell-distribution per milliliter whole blood according to the LIPS technique (Zhou et al. JITC 2021). | Change of the immunophenotyping from baseline to the end of study period, up to 5 years | 
| Analysis of cytokines in peripheral blood and their change at certain points in the course of treatment | Electrochemiluminescent MULTI-ARRAY measurement of concentration (pg/ml whole blood) cytokines/chemoattractant cytokines in the serum/plasma of the patients according to the LIPS technique (Zhou et al. JITC 2021). | Change of the cytokine expression from baseline to the end of study period, up to 5 years | 
| Analysis of patient's metabolic state | Mass-spectrometric untargeted metabolomic of patients serum/plasma to assess the change of metabolites (pg/ml whole blood) from baseline to end of radiotherapy. | The analyses are conducted from baseline to the end of study period, up to 5 years | 
| Analysis of patient's microbiomic state by examination of saliva, tumor and stool | 16S rRNA deep sequencing of microbiome in salvia, tumour and stool samples to assess the presence and relative distribution of microbiotes (Operational taxonomic units (OTUs)). | The analyses are conducted from baseline to the end of study period, up to 5 years |