Investigation of the KIR-status of patients with head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma in bloodserum

Introduction The activation of natural killer cells (NK) by their KIR (killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor) is a potent defense system of tumor cells. In this thesis we want to investigate the profile of 16 inhibiting and activating KIRs in bloodserum of patients with a head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Furthermore, we calculate the correlation between the KIR-status and the overall survival (OS) of HNSCC-patients.

Methods Therefore, we isolated free circulating DNA of 205 HNSCC serum samples, including 16 patients with a relapse and of 52 health control samples and detected the KIR-genes qualitative by realtime-PCR. The correlation between KIR-status and OS was tested univariately by Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank-test.

Results Using known KIR-profiles it was demonstrated that the analysis of the KIR-status from serum samples was possible. We found a significant correlation between the expression of KIR2DL5 (p=0,017), as well as the expression of KIR2DS1 (p=0,027) and the OS of HNSCC-patients. The survival time was prolonged by the presence of KIR2DL5 or KIR2DS1. Moreover, there was a statistically significant difference between the frequency of KIR2DL1 in the HNSCC group (p=0,001), the control group (p=0,028) and the previously described frequency for Germany. There were no statistically significant correlations for the remaining KIRs found.

Conclusion It could be shown that KIR2DL5 or KIR2DS1 associates with a better OS of HNSCC-patients. This leads us to the conclusion that these receptors may have an important impact on the tumor-specific effect of NK cells. Further studies are needed to clarify the biological mechanisms underlying this survival difference.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
24. Mai 2022