Objective: To explore the association between Smad7 expression and tumor-associated macrophage (TAM), and their relationship with clinicopathological features and prognosis in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).
Methods: This study collected cancer tissues from 314 OSCC patients from May 2002 to May 2012 at our hospital. Immunohistochemistry was carried out to detect the density of CD68+ cells and Smad7.
Results: The densities of CD68TFMean and CD68TFHotspot shared a significant negative correlation with the immunoscore (IS) of Smad7, indicated that Smad7 was evidently increased with the decrease densities of CD68TFMean and CD68TFHotspot in OSCC tissues. Besides, low differentiation degree together with high TNM, T and N stage of OSCC patients presented decreased densities of CD68TFMean and CD68TFHotspot but increased expression of Smad7. Kaplan-Meier univariate survival analysis showed that the prognosis of OSCC patients was associated with differentiation degree, clinical stages, Smad7 expression, as well as densities of CD68TFMean and CD68TFHotspot. Cox regression analysis results demonstrated that N staging, the densities of CD68TFMean and CD68TFHotspot and Smad7 expression were independent risk factors influencing the survival rate of OSCC patients.
Conclusion: Decreased densities of CD68TFMean and CD68TFHotspot were negatively correlated with the increased Smad7 expression in OSCC tissues, both of which linked to clinicopathological features and prognosis of OSCC.
Keywords: CD68; Oral squamous cell carcinoma; Smad7; Tumor-associated macrophage.
Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.