Immunosuppressive property of submandibular lymph nodes in patients with head and neck tumors: differential distribution of regulatory T cells.

OBJECTIVE

Different sensitizations and immune responses are thought to be induced in response to antigens at different mucosal sites between the oral floor and nose. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in the distributions of lymphocyte subsets in the submandibular (SM) and upper jugular (UJ) lymph nodes (LNs), which are supposed to be regional LNs of the oral floor and nasal mucosa, respectively. SMLNs and UJLNs were collected from patients with head and neck tumors who underwent surgical resection. The populations of T cells, Natural Killer (NK) cells, Natural Killer T (NKT) cells, regulatory T cells (Tregs) and dendritic cells (DCs) in LNs without metastasis were analyzed by flow cytometry. The high-affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) expression of LN cells were also evaluated.

RESULTS

The proportions of CD4CD25Foxp3 Tregs, CD4CD45RAFoxp3 effector Tregs and FcεRIαCD33CD11c DCs were significantly larger in SMLNs compared with UJLNs, while those of CD3 T cells, CD3CD56 NK cells, CD3Vα24Vβ11 NKT cells, and CD123CD303 DCs did not show any significant differences between SMLNs and UJLNs. The differential distributions of CD4CD25Foxp3 Tregs were observed regardless of tumor region, LN metastasis and clinical staging. These data indicate that SMLNs may have immunosuppressive properties compared with UJLNs.