Programmed Death Ligand 1 in Tumor Margins with Implications of Regulation by Interferon Gamma, and a Novel Immuno-Oncologic Transcriptional Signature for Malignant Transformation

Basic analysis of 5 pairs of tumor margin and invasive OSCC tumor tissue using basic nsolver analysis showed, PD-L1 and IFN-γ 6 gene signature to be higher in morphologically normal epithelial tumor margin than in dysplastic tumor margin, yet the invasive OSCC area was the highest in PD-L1 and IFN-γ 6 gene signature. It also demosntrates 38 significant Immuno oncologic gene signature for maligant transformation relative to tumor margins. Under an Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved protocol and patient consent whole excision tumor tissues were collected prospectively at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) under (HP-00073603), and retrospectively under (IRB HP-00088284).Five tumors were mapped for tumor margins and invasive area of OSCC for RNA extraction using nCounter Human Pan Cancer IO-360 nanoString Technology .