Hubungan Ekspresi Respon Imun TIM-3 dengan Stadium Karsinoma Nasofaring

Abstract

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a head and neck malignancy predominantly found in endemic regions such as Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. Its development and progression are closely related to immune escape mechanisms. T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing protein-3 (TIM-3) is recognized as an immune checkpoint that negatively regulates immune responses and has been reported to correlate with poor prognosis in several cancers. However, the association between TIM-3 expression and NPC stage remains inconsistent and requires further investigation. Objective: To evaluate the association between TIM-3 immune response expression and the clinical stage of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: This study was an analytical observational research with a crosssectional design involving 40 NPC patients. Demographic characteristics, histopathological type, tumor extension (T), lymph node involvement (N), and clinical stage were analyzed in relation to TIM-3 immune response expression. Results: The majority of subjects were male (65%) with a mean age of 48.2 years. Increased TIM-3 immune response expression was observed in 97.5% of samples. No significant association was found between TIM-3 expression and histopathological type, tumor extension, lymph node enlargement, or clinical stage of NPC. Descriptively, TIM-3 expression was higher in undifferentiated carcinoma compared to keratinizing SCC, highest in T4 compared to T1, and highest in N3 compared to N0. The maximum expression value was observed in stage IV. Conclusion: TIM-3 immune response expression was increased in most NPC cases but showed no significant correlation with clinical stage. Variations in TIM- 3 expression across tumor types and the immune microenvironment may influence its prognostic role.