Department of Clinical Specialistic and Dental Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy.
Histol Histopathol. 2021 Feb;36(2):113-122. doi: 10.14670/HH-18-250. Epub 2020 Sep 28.
Oral squamous cell carcinoma is the most common head and neck malignancy, characterised by high invasive capacity, lymph node metastasis, and high recurrence rate. Among the morphological features of oral cancer, the tumour-associated tissue eosinophilia has gained growing interest in the last years. Eosinophils are a minor subpopulation of leukocytes, representing 1-3% of all circulating white blood cells. The presence of high levels of eosinophils is associated with several diseases, but their role in cancer pathophysiology is controversial. In particular, an uncertain and contradictory relationship exists between the exact role of tumour-associated tissue eosinophilia and oral cancer development. Many studies have shown that tumour-associated tissue eosinophilia increases both in the progression of oral potentially malignant disorders as well as in the grade and stage progression of oral cancer. Despite this, both negative and positive prognostic outcomes have been associated with eosinophil infiltration. The heterogeneous results may be partially due both to several methodological inconsistencies and to an incorrect interpretation of the physiological role of eosinophils. Therefore, further studies to elucidate the contribution of eosinophil infiltration are needed, focusing on the existence of eosinophil subpopulations regulated by the cancer immune microenvironment. Furthermore, the correct reporting of prognostic marker research is encouraged, in order to ensure the reproducibility and the comparability of the results from different studies.
口腔鳞状细胞癌是最常见的头颈部恶性肿瘤，其特征为高侵袭性、淋巴结转移和高复发率。在口腔癌的形态特征中，肿瘤相关组织嗜酸性粒细胞近年来受到越来越多的关注。嗜酸性粒细胞是白细胞的一个小亚群，占所有循环白细胞的 1-3%。高水平的嗜酸性粒细胞与多种疾病有关，但它们在癌症发病机制中的作用存在争议。特别是，肿瘤相关组织嗜酸性粒细胞与口腔癌发展的确切关系存在不确定和矛盾。许多研究表明，口腔潜在恶性疾病的进展以及口腔癌的分级和分期进展均会增加肿瘤相关组织嗜酸性粒细胞。尽管如此，嗜酸性粒细胞浸润与预后不良和预后良好均有关。这种异质性结果可能部分归因于多种方法学上的不一致性，以及对嗜酸性粒细胞生理作用的不正确解释。因此，需要进一步研究以阐明嗜酸性粒细胞浸润的作用，重点关注受癌症免疫微环境调节的嗜酸性粒细胞亚群的存在。此外，鼓励正确报告预后标志物研究，以确保不同研究结果的可重复性和可比性。
