title: Microlocalization of CD68+ tumor-associated macrophages in tumor stroma correlated with poor clinical outcomes in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients.
abstract: CD68 has been widely used as a pan-macrophage marker for tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) which always involve in carcinogenesis. But the correlations between CD68(+) TAMs and prognosis of patients show to be inconsistent, which might due to lack of specific markers of TAMs. We here found that the microlocalization of CD68(+) TAMs also played a unique role in prognosis of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). CD68(+) TAMs were identified in paraffin-embedded OSCC specimens (n = 91) by using immunohistochemistry. The number of CD68(+) TAMs was remarkably increased from adjacent none-neoplasia tissues (NT) to tumor nest (TN), but tumor stroma (TS) was infiltrated with highest frequency of CD68(+) TAMs (P < 0.0001). Unexpectedly, more CD68(+) TAMs in TS, but not NT or TN, were associated with high tumor grade (P = 0.033), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.034), and shorter 10-year overall survival time, disease free survival. Considering TAMs was derived from monocytes in peripheral blood, we assessed the relationship between leukocytes in peripheral blood and CD68(+) TAMs in OSCC and found that more CD68(+) TAMs in TS were accompanied with decreased monocytes and lymphocytes in peripheral blood (P < 0.05). Although Cox regression analysis revealed that CD68(+) TAMs in TS were not an independent prognostic factor for OSCC patients, we raised a possibility that the microlocalization of CD68(+) TAMs was an indispensable factor for the advance of OSCC.
authors: Central Laboratory of Stomatology, Nanjing Stomatology Hospital and the State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Division of Immunology, Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, People's Republic of China.
authors: Yan-Hong
authors: YH
authors: Ni
authors: Liang
authors: L
authors: Ding
authors: Xiao-Feng
authors: XF
authors: Huang
authors: Ying-chun
authors: YC
authors: Dong
authors: Qin-Gang
authors: QG
authors: Hu
authors: Ya-Yi
authors: YY
authors: Hou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000097:blood*; D015214:Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008264:Macrophages / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000473:pathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D000097382:CD68 Molecule
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D015214:Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C067980:CD68 antigen, human; D000097382:CD68 Molecule