Immunohistochemical expression of CD3, CD20, CD45, CD68 and bcl-2 in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE

To study the main processes involved in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC): apoptosis and inflammation.

STUDY DESIGN

The immunohistochemical expression of bcl-2, CD3, CD20, CD45 and CD68 were studied by standard linked streptavidin-biotin horseradish peroxidase technique in 21 paraffin-embedded OSCC specimens in order to establish their possible correlation with the degree of tumoral differentiation.

RESULTS

A trend was observed for the association of inflammatory infiltrate with the degree of tumor differentiation: well and moderately differentiated tumors tend to be associated to a dense inflammatory infiltrate (57.9% of cases), while poorly differentiated cancers seem to be associated to a low inflammatory infiltrate in 85.7% of cases. The most expressed molecule was CD68, followed by CD45, CD20 and CD3. Bcl-2 was low or moderately expressed, and immunostaining was more diffuse in moderately or poorly differentiated oral cancers.

CONCLUSION

Inflammatory infiltrate and the degree of OSCC differentiation may be linked, but the specific role still remains unclear.