A clinico-pathological study of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and pharynx treated with nivolumab

Abstract

We investigated the association between clinical and pathological factors and prognosis in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and pharynx who received nivolumab at our department from September 2017 to July 2019. Eight patients had oral cavity cancer and 20 had pharyngeal cancer, and the median survival was 10 months. Patients with an ECOG PS of ≥2, a neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio （NLR） of ≥5, and a serum CRP level of ≥0.87mg/dl had a significantly worse prognosis （p＝0.0004, 0.01, 0.03）. PD-L1 expression and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte （CD4, CD8, FoxP3） expression in initial pathology specimens were not associated with prognosis, but those with high expression of tumor-associated macrophages （CD163） showed a tendency toward poor prognosis. Further development of prognostic factors is desirable.