Wang Yi-Ping, Chen I-Chang, Wu Yu-Hsueh, Wu Yang-Che, Chen Hsin-Ming, Yu-Fong Chang Julia
Graduate Institute of Clinical Dentistry, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Graduate Institute of Clinical Dentistry, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
J Formos Med Assoc. 2017 Jun;116(6):457-463. doi: 10.1016/j.jfma.2017.02.006. Epub 2017 Mar 11.
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Langerhans cells (LCs) are antigen presenting cells. This study assessed the LC counts in oral epithelial dysplasia (OED) and their correlation to clinicopathological parameters.
This study examined the LC counts in the epithelia and subepithelial connective tissues of 58 patients with OED (21 mild, 18 moderate, and 19 severe OED lesions) and 10 specimens of normal oral mucosa (NOM) by anti-S-100 protein immunostaining.
We found that the mean LC counts in the epithelia or subepithelial connective tissues increased significantly from NOM samples through mild and moderate OED to severe OED samples. In addition, a significant correlation was found between higher mean LC counts in the dysplastic epithelia of OED samples and OED lesions with thicker epithelial layers (p<0.001) or wider inflammatory zones (p<0.001), and between higher mean LC counts in the subepithelial connective tissues of OED samples and OED lesions with wider inflammatory zones (p<0.001). Moreover, the nine OED lesions with malignant transformation had a significantly lower mean LC count than the 49 OED lesions without malignant transformation.
The significant and gradual elevation in LC count from NOM through mild and moderate OED to severe OED lesions suggests an upregulation of immunosurveillance ability in OED patients during the early oral carcinogenesis process. A low LC count in OED lesions may suggest the partial loss of immunosurveillance ability against dysplastic cells; this in turn favors the malignant transformation of an OED lesion into oral cancer.
背景/目的：朗格汉斯细胞（LCs）是抗原呈递细胞。本研究评估了口腔上皮发育异常（OED）中的LC计数及其与临床病理参数的相关性。
本研究通过抗S-100蛋白免疫染色检查了58例OED患者（21例轻度、18例中度和19例重度OED病变）上皮及上皮下结缔组织中的LC计数，以及10例正常口腔黏膜（NOM）标本。
我们发现，从NOM样本到轻度和中度OED再到重度OED样本，上皮或上皮下结缔组织中的平均LC计数显著增加。此外，在OED样本发育异常上皮中较高的平均LC计数与上皮层较厚（p<0.001）或炎症区较宽（p<0.001）的OED病变之间，以及在OED样本上皮下结缔组织中较高的平均LC计数与炎症区较宽（p<0.001）的OED病变之间，均发现显著相关性。此外，9例发生恶变的OED病变的平均LC计数显著低于49例未发生恶变的OED病变。
从NOM到轻度和中度OED再到重度OED病变，LC计数显著且逐渐升高，这表明在早期口腔癌发生过程中，OED患者的免疫监视能力上调。OED病变中LC计数较低可能表明对发育异常细胞的免疫监视能力部分丧失；这反过来有利于OED病变恶变为口腔癌。
