Prognostic impact of p16 and PD-L1 expression in patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma receiving a definitive treatment

Abstract

We demonstrated that PD-L1 expression on immune cells but not tumour cells might represent a useful prognostic biomarker in patients with OPSCC receiving a definitive treatment. We propose that a co-assessment of p16 and PD-L1 expression on immune cells would have greater prognostic potential compared with evaluation of each factor alone in patients with OPSCC.