Evaluation of CD4+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte association with some clinicopathological indices of oral squamous cell carcinoma

• Main Authors: Farnaz Mohajertehran (Author), Alieh Farshbaf (Author), Atieh Kashafi (Author), Mehdi Shahabinejad (Author), Shahrzad Ebrahimzade (Author), Abdollah Javan-Rashid (Author), Nooshin Mohtasham (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications, 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 1735-3327; 2008-0255; 10.4103/1735-3327.359323
• Keywords: cd4+ t-lymphocyte; diagnosis; oral cancer; prognosis; tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte; Dentistry; RK1-715
• Source: Dental Research Journal, Vol 19, Iss 1, Pp 86-86 (2022)

Background: The delayed diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) affects therapeutic and prognostic strategies, and provides regional recurrence or distant metastasis. The tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are known as a critical diagnostic biomarker in antitumor immune response. We evaluated the association between CD4+ T-lymphocyte marker, some clinicopathological indices, and the impact of TILs on the stage and grade of OSCC. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 37 OSCC specimens including 16 early and 21 advanced stages (categorized base-on recent clinical oncology references) and their related healthy surgical margin (as internal control group) were collected. Obtained histochemical data were analyzed by SPSS V.23 software. The expression of CD4+ marker in tumor microenvironment (TME) was compared by nonparametric Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis as well as Fisher's exact tests. P < 0.05 was remarked statistically significant. Results: The low-grade patients represented more CD4+ TIL that was statistically significant (P = 0.011). However, there was no statistically significant difference in CD4+ TIL between various stages (P = 0.404), tumor size, and lymph node involvement (P > 0.05). Moreover, there was no significant relation between TIL infiltration, age, and tumor localization (P > 0.05), however CD4+ expression in women was more than men (P = 0.008). The CD4+ T-lymphocyte infiltration in TME was more significant than healthy surgical margin (P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant difference between healthy surgical margin and different grades and stages of OSCCs that lower grades demonstrated more CD4+ TIL infiltration (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The CD4+ T-lymphocytes may play important role in differentiation and maturity of epithelial cell, tumorigenesis, and progression of OSCC.