CD8 (C8/144B, 1:100) and PD-L1 (Ventana
SP263 assay) immunohistochemistry was performed on a Ventana
Benchmark Ultra autostainer according to accredited staining protocols (
https://www.dakks.de/en). PD-L1 was scored according to the durvalumab-linked PD-L1 scoring algorithm (TC
area-score[%]=positive tumor cell area per total tumor cell area; IC
area-score[%]=proportion of the area occupied by PD-L1 positive tumor associated IC per total area occupied by tumor-associated IC). Whole slides stained for CD8 were digitalized (P250 slide scanner, 3DHistech), and CD8 infiltration was detected quantitatively (per mm2 (
link) intratumoral (tumor cell area), in the tumor associated stroma and in the total tumor area using QuPath v0.2.0. Details were described previously.16 18 (
link)
Whole blood samples of the patients collected at study inclusion were analyzed with multi-color flow cytometry according to previously published and clinically applied immunophenotypin protocols.16 19 (
link)
Hecht M., Eckstein M., Rutzner S., von der Grün J., Illmer T., Klautke G., Laban S., Hautmann M.G., Brunner T.B., Tamaskovics B., Hinke A., Zhou J.G., Frey B., Donaubauer A.J., Becker I., Semrau S., Hartmann A., Balermpas P., Budach W., Gaipl U.S., Iro H., Gostian A.O, & Fietkau R. (2022). Induction chemoimmunotherapy followed by CD8+ immune cell-based patient selection for chemotherapy-free radioimmunotherapy in locally advanced head and neck cancer. Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, 10(1), e003747.