MedWire News: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are potential biomarkers for prognosis in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), research suggests.
The findings are reported in the Journal of Oral Pathology and Medicine by Japanese researchers, who analyzed the clinicopathologic and prognostic significance of different stromal cells.
The team obtained oral epithelial samples from 108 patients with OSCC, 24 patients with oral dysplasia, and five healthy individuals. Patients with OSCC had undergone surgery without preoperative chemotherapy or radiation.
All samples were assessed using immunohistochemistry, with anti-α-smooth muscle actin, CD68, and CD163 antibodies being employed to identify CAFs and TAMs.
Kohei Shomori (Tottori University) and co-authors report that CAF levels were "variable" in OSCC stroma and absent from dysplastic and normal mucosa specimens.
Furthermore, in OSCC patients two pathologic features - CAFs with focal staining intensity and TAMs expressing high levels of CD163 - were each significantly and independently associated with poor clinical outcomes.
Patient age, T stage, and N stage were also significantly associated with prognosis in multivariate analysis.
Discussing potential mechanisms that might underlie their findings, Shomori et al note that CAFs produce matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, and that the presence of CAFs in OSCC correlated with increased production of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in tumor cells.
"The tissue destruction by MMPs is essential for the first invasion of cancer cells. On the other hand, tumor-stimulated macrophages produce angiogenic factors and inflammatory cytokines that can promote tumor progression and metastasis, which may be induced and activated following CAF expression," they write.
The team concludes: "In the future, CAFs will be established as potential targets for anti-cancer therapies. Further research should be undertaken to analyze CAF differentiation and fibrotic mechanisms, including a detailed study of macrophages."
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