Doumas S, Paterson J C, Norris P M, Tighe J V, Newman L, Bisase B S, Kolokotronis A E, Barrett A W
Queen Victoria Hospital NHSF Trust, East Grinstead, West Sussex, UK.
Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2015 Mar;19(1):61-4. doi: 10.1007/s10006-014-0455-4. Epub 2014 Jul 11.
Perineural invasion (PNI) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is an independent predictor of poor prognosis. As PNI is not always identified with routine histology, a surrogate marker of PNI would improve detection and better inform treatment planning. The chemokines fractalkine (CX3CL1) and its receptor (CX3CR1) have shown such potential in other cancers, but have yet to be investigated with respect to PNI in oral SCC.
Thirty SCCs of the tongue in which PNI was identified histologically, and 30 in which it was not, were stained for fractalkine and fractalkine receptor using polyclonal antibodies and an immunoperoxidase technique. Tumours were assessed as either positive or negative; no attempt was made to subjectively assess staining intensity or extent.
Both markers labelled myofibroblasts in the stroma surrounding the tumour, various neural components, leucocytes, endothelium and salivary myoepithelial cells. Fractalkine also labelled salivary ductal epithelium, vascular smooth muscle and 12/30 SCC which showed PNI. Eight of 30 positive SCCs in which PNI was not identified were also positive for this marker. There was no statistically significant association between fractalkine staining and PNI (p = 0.273). No SCC was positive for fractalkine receptor, but immune dendritic cells within tumour islands were strongly positive, as was striated muscle.
Neither fractalkine nor fractalkine receptor is a reliable surrogate marker of PNI in lingual SCC.
口腔鳞状细胞癌（SCC）中的神经周围浸润（PNI）是预后不良的独立预测指标。由于常规组织学检查并不总能识别出PNI，因此PNI的替代标志物将有助于提高检测率，并为治疗方案的制定提供更充分的信息。趋化因子fractalkine（CX3CL1）及其受体（CX3CR1）在其他癌症中已显示出这种潜力，但在口腔SCC的PNI方面尚未进行研究。
选取30例经组织学检查发现有PNI的舌部SCC和30例未发现PNI的舌部SCC，使用多克隆抗体和免疫过氧化物酶技术对fractalkine和fractalkine受体进行染色。将肿瘤评估为阳性或阴性；未尝试主观评估染色强度或范围。
两种标志物均标记肿瘤周围基质中的肌成纤维细胞、各种神经成分、白细胞、内皮细胞和唾液腺肌上皮细胞。Fractalkine还标记唾液导管上皮、血管平滑肌以及12/30例显示有PNI的SCC。在30例未发现PNI的阳性SCC中，有8例对该标志物也呈阳性。Fractalkine染色与PNI之间无统计学显著相关性（p = 0.273）。没有SCC对fractalkine受体呈阳性，但肿瘤岛内的免疫树突状细胞呈强阳性，横纹肌也是如此。
在舌部SCC中，fractalkine和fractalkine受体均不是PNI的可靠替代标志物。
