Spatial analysis of HPV‐associated cervical intraepithelial neoplastic tissues demonstrate distinct immune signatures associated with cervical cancer progression

TL;DR

This study explores immune changes in HPV-related cervical lesions, revealing suppressed immune responses and distinct immune patterns linked to cancer progression.

Contribution

The study identifies spatial immune signatures and the absence of IL34-CSF1R signaling in HPV-associated neoplastic regions.

Findings

Immune suppression was observed in neoplastic regions across all HPV+ samples.

IL34-CSF1R coexpression was absent in neoplastic regions but present in adjacent normal tissue.

M2 gene signatures were enriched in neoplastic regions, while M1 signatures were in adjacent tissue.

Abstract

Cervical cancer remains the fourth most common cancer affecting women worldwide, and incidences of other HPV‐related cancers continue to rise. For the development of effective prevention strategies in high‐risk patients, we aimed to better understand the roles of inflammatory pathways and the tumour microenvironment as the main driver of progression to malignancy in HPV‐infected tissues. We analysed the spatial organisation of seven samples of HPV+ high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 (CIN3), comparing tumour heterogeneity and immune microenvironments between premalignant (neoplastic) and adjacent cervical tissues. We observed evidence of immune suppression within the neoplastic regions across all samples and identified distinct immune clusters for each dysplastic lesion. Previous single‐cell data analyses in an HPV16 E7 oncoprotein‐driven transgenic mouse model suggested a potential role for IL34‐CSF1R signalling in immune modulation, where low IL34 expression was associated with Langerhans cell dysfunction, and, in cervical cancer, with poor patient outcome. Here we observed that IL34‐CSF1R coexpression was absent within HPV‐associated neoplastic regions, but present in adjacent normal tissue regions. Additionally, we identified enrichment of an M2 gene signature in neoplastic regions, while adjacent tissue was enriched with a proinflammatory M1 gene signature. Our findings provide biopathological insights into the spatial cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying HPV‐associated cervical cancer immune regulation and suggest a strategy to modulate the immune system in HPV‐positive neoplastic cervical and other tissues. © 2025 The Author(s). The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

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