Integrated transcriptome study of the tumor microenvironment for treatment response prediction in male predominant hypopharyngeal carcinoma

The efficacy of the first-line treatment for hypopharyngeal carcinoma (HPC), a predominantly male cancer, at advanced stage is only about 50% without reliable molecular indicators for its prognosis. In this study, HPC biopsy samples collected before and after the first-line treatment are classified into different groups according to treatment responses. We analyze the changes of HPC tumor microenvironment (TME) at the single-cell level in response to the treatment and identify three gene modules associated with advanced HPC prognosis. We estimate cell constitutions based on bulk RNA-seq of our HPC samples and build a binary classifier model based on non-malignant cell subtype abundance in TME, which can be used to accurately identify treatment-resistant advanced HPC patients in time and enlarge the possibility to preserve their laryngeal function. In summary, we provide a useful approach to identify gene modules and a classifier model as reliable indicators to predict treatment responses in HPC.