Wu Mengna, Fang Jiajun, Zhang Tonghan
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hospital of Stomatology, Zhongshan City, Zhongshan, China.
School of Stomatology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
BMC Cancer. 2025 Jul 22;25(1):1199. doi: 10.1186/s12885-025-14597-9.
This study aimed to investigate the expression and clinical significance of interleukin-27 (IL-27) and forkhead box P3 (Foxp3) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) tissues, analyze their co-expression correlations, and explore their potential as prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for OSCC.
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to detect the expression of the two subunits of IL-27, IL-27p28 and Epstein-Barr virus-induced gene 3 (EBI3), and Foxp3 in OSCC tissues and normal tissues. Chi-square test was used to analyze the correlation between the expression of the three in OSCC tissues and the clinical pathological parameters of patients.
The IHC results showed that the expressions of IL-27p28, EBI3 and Foxp3 proteins in OSCC tissues were all higher than those in normal control tissues(<0.05); Correlation analysis indicated that IL-27 was associated with the presence or absence of lymph node metastasis in OSCC patients, and Foxp3 was related to the clinical stage of the tumor(<0.05). Their expressions were not related to the patients’ age, gender, primary tumor status, degree of differentiation, lesion location, or postoperative recurrence (>0.05).
The expression levels of IL-27p28, EBI3 and Foxp3 in OSCC tissues are significantly upregulated, indicating that the three play important roles in the occurrence and development of OSCC tumors. Furthermore, its high expression is associated with various clinicopathological characteristics of OSCC patients and can be used as a potential indicator for evaluating the prognosis of OSCC patients.
本研究旨在探讨白细胞介素-27（IL-27）和叉头框蛋白P3（Foxp3）在口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）组织中的表达及临床意义，分析它们的共表达相关性，并探索其作为OSCC预后生物标志物和治疗靶点的潜力。
采用免疫组织化学（IHC）检测IL-27的两个亚基IL-27p28和爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒诱导基因3（EBI3）以及Foxp3在OSCC组织和正常组织中的表达。采用卡方检验分析三者在OSCC组织中的表达与患者临床病理参数之间的相关性。
免疫组化结果显示，OSCC组织中IL-27p28、EBI3和Foxp3蛋白的表达均高于正常对照组织（<0.05）；相关性分析表明，IL-27与OSCC患者有无淋巴结转移有关，Foxp3与肿瘤的临床分期有关（<0.05）。它们的表达与患者的年龄、性别、原发肿瘤状态、分化程度、病变部位或术后复发无关（>0.05）。
OSCC组织中IL-27p28、EBI3和Foxp3的表达水平显著上调，表明三者在OSCC肿瘤的发生发展中起重要作用。此外，其高表达与OSCC患者的各种临床病理特征相关，可作为评估OSCC患者预后的潜在指标。
