BACKGROUND

The overall assessment of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) evaluated using hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining has been recently studied in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC).

METHODS

We conducted a systematic review of Scopus, Ovid Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library to retrieve studies assessing TILs in HE-stained sections of OPSCC. We used fixed-effect models and random-effect models to estimate the pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and confidence intervals (CIs) for disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS).

RESULTS

Eleven studies were identified that had analyzed the prognostic significance of TILs in OPSCC using HE-stained specimens. Our meta-analyses showed that a high infiltration of TILs was significantly associated with improved DFS (HR 0.39, 95%CI 0.24-0.65, P = 0.0003), OS (HR 0.38, 95%CI 0.29-0.50, P < 0.0001), and DSS (HR 0.32, 95%CI 0.19-0.53, P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

Findings of our meta-analysis support a growing body of evidence indicating that assessment of TILs in OPSCC using HE-stained sections has reliable prognostic value. The clinical significance of such assessment of TILs has been reported repeatedly in many studies on OPSCC. The assessment is cost-effective, feasible, easy to transfer from lab to clinic, and therefore can be incorporated in daily practice.