A quantitative histomorphometric classifier (QuHbIC) identifies aggressive versus indolent p16-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Am J Surg Pathol. 2014 Jan;38(1):128-37. doi: 10.1097/PAS.0000000000000086.

Abstract

Human papillomavirus-related (p16-positive) oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients develop recurrent disease, mostly distant metastasis, in approximately 10% of cases, and the remaining patients, despite cure, can have major morbidity from treatment. Identifying patients with aggressive versus indolent tumors is critical. Hematoxylin and eosin-stained slides of a microarray cohort of p16-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma cases were digitally scanned. A novel cluster cell graph was constructed using the nuclei as vertices to characterize and measure spatial distribution and cell clustering. A series of topological features defined on each node of the subgraph were analyzed, and a random forest decision tree classifier was developed. The classifier (QuHbIC) was validated over 25 runs of 3-fold cross-validation using case subsets for independent training and testing. Nineteen (11.9%) of the 160 patients on the array developed recurrence. QuHbIC correctly predicted outcomes in 140 patients (87.5% accuracy). There were 23 positive patients, of whom 11 developed recurrence (47.8% positive predictive value), and 137 negative patients, of whom only 8 developed recurrence (94.2% negative predictive value). The best other predictive features were stage T4 (18 patients; 83.1% accuracy) and N3 nodal disease (10 patients; 88.6% accuracy). QuHbIC-positive patients had poorer overall, disease-free, and disease-specific survival (P<0.001 for each). In multivariate analysis, QuHbIC-positive patients still showed significantly poorer disease-free and disease-specific survival, independent of all other variables. In summary, using just tiny hematoxylin and eosin punches, a computer-aided histomorphometric classifier (QuHbIC) can strongly predict recurrence risk. With prospective validation, this testing may be useful to stratify patients into different treatment groups.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Biomarkers, Tumor / analysis*
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / chemistry
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / diagnosis*
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / mortality
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / secondary
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / therapy
  • Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / virology
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16 / analysis*
  • Decision Support Techniques*
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted*
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Lymphatic Metastasis
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / chemistry
  • Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / mortality
  • Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / pathology
  • Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / therapy
  • Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / virology
  • Papillomavirus Infections / complications
  • Papillomavirus Infections / diagnosis
  • Papillomavirus Infections / virology
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Risk Factors
  • Staining and Labeling
  • Time Factors
  • Tissue Array Analysis*
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16