Characteristics of B lymphocyte infiltration in HPV(+) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is an important etiological factor of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). HPV(+) HNSCC patients usually have a better prognosis, which probably results from the higher infiltration of B lymphocytes. This study was purposed to detect the infiltration of B lymphocyte subsets and the correlation between B lymphocyte subsets and the prognosis in HPV‐related HNSCC. In this study, 124 HPV(+) and 513 HPV(−) HNSCC samples were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database for transcriptomic analysis. Infiltration of B lymphocytes subsets was detected with 7 HPV(+) HNSCC and 13 HPV(−) HNSCC tissues through immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. One HPV(−) HNSCC sample was detected with single‐cell sequencing for chemokine analysis. In the results, the infiltration of plasma cells (CD19(+)CD38(+)) and memory B cells (MS4A1(+)CD27(+)) was higher in HPV(+) HNSCC samples. High infiltration of plasma cells and memory B cells was related to a better prognosis. High density of B lymphocytes was positively correlated with high CXCL13 production mainly from CD4(+) T lymphocytes in HNSCC. These results indicated that a high density of plasma cells and memory B cells could predict excellent prognosis. CD4(+) T lymphocytes might affect B lymphocytes and their subsets through the CXCL13/CXCR5 axis in HNSCC.