Abstract 2217: Novel risk stratification utilizing NanoString for HPV+ head and neck cancer patients

Abstract

Incidence of human papillomavirus positive (HPV+) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has dramatically increased in the U.S. surpassing cervical cancer since 2012. Among HNSCC, HPV+ HNSCC patients have a favorable prognosis; however, approximately 20-30% suffer recurrence. Given the morbidity of current therapy, therapeutic de-escalation for HPV+ HNSCC is being explored in many clinical trials but is hampered by absence of accurate molecular classifiers to identify tumors at high and low risk of recurrence. Being able to risk stratify patients can help with therapeutic decisions, maintain high cure rates and decrease treatment associated complications. We assemble a NanoString panel to capture our recently developed NF-κB RNA signature that can distinguish patients requiring aggressive therapy from patients who are appropriate for reduced intensity treatment. Our custom gene set can select HPV+ head and neck cancer patients that may benefit from therapy de-escalation. Several advantages of using a NanoString technology, including smaller amounts of patient samples and less processing time that allow real-time patient-specific results. This makes our Nanostring panel suitable to be used in clinic to identify HPV+ head and neck cancer patients for therapeutic de-escalation without compromising their survival. Citation Format: Sulgi Kim, Travis Schrank, Aditi Kothari, Hina Rehmani, Jason Tasoulas, Xue Li, Wendell Yarbrough, Natalia Isaeva. Novel risk stratification utilizing NanoString for HPV+ head and neck cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 2217.