Tissue Eosinophilia and its Association with Tumoral Invasion of Oral Cancer

Abstract

This study investigated if tumor-associated tissue eosinophilia (TATE) could be associated with the process of tissue invasion in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) and its influence on patient's prognosis. Forty-three patients treated for OSCCs with or without lymph nodes involvement, at A. C. Camargo Cancer Hospital, Brazil, were selected for TATE analysis. Two degrees of tissue eosinophilia were established in OSCC: absent/mild and intense. The TATE was evaluated in relation to the clinicopathological features and prognostic value using chi( 2) test and the Kaplan-Meier method. Most of the patients with OSCC in advanced clinical stage presented muscular infiltration and significantly intense TATE whereas those with tumors in early stage frequently showed absent/mild eosinophilia (P = .009). The TATE showed no prognostic value for 5-year and 10-year survival rates of the OSCC. These findings suggest that intense TATE seems to reflect the stromal invasion of the OSCCs that occur in advanced clinical stage.

Tumor-Associated Tissue Eosinophilia in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck

“…Jain et al evaluated the relationship between histopathologic grading and eosinophil count in metastatic and non-metastatic oral SCC and showed that in well and moderate differentiated metastatic SCC there is a less average eosinophilic count compared to nonmetastatic ones (14). In the current study, there was no relationship between age and gender of the patients with eosinophil count, which was similar to other studies (9,10). However, in the study by Ercan et al, conducted on larynx SCC, there was negative relationship between TATE and age; a decrease in TATE was reported in patients older than 60 years (19).…”

Assessment of Tissue Eosinophilia as a Prognosticator in Oral Epithelial Dysplasia and Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma—An Image Analysis Study

“…The development of invasive cancer is not simply a result of genetic alterations within the tumor cell itself but is also associated with profound changes in host stromal, endothelial, and inflammatory/immune cells [8]. The peritumoral and intratumoral inflammatory infiltrates found in tumors have been considered as the host's immune response to the neoplasia [7, 8].…”

“…The peritumoral and intratumoral inflammatory infiltrates found in tumors have been considered as the host's immune response to the neoplasia [7, 8]. The initial recruitment and activation of eosinophils towards the tumour microenvironment is a complex process that is mediated by inflammatory cytokines and chemokines and is principally related to Th2 response.…”

“…Although eosinophils are commonly encountered in human cancer, their functional role in malignancy remains an ambiguity. The literature demonstrates a tendency to consider TATE as a favourable prognostic factor in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), but TATE has also been related to a poorer prognosis or even to no influence on patients' outcome reflecting that this issue is still a matter of controversy [7, 8]. Therefore, the present study was attempted to investigate the role of TATE in oral precancer and OSCC and whether it can be used as a predictive marker for OSCC.…”

“…It is characterised by the presence of eosinophils as a component of peritumoral and intratumoral inflammatory infiltrate [7, 8]. TATE in malignancies is associated with different sites such as nasopharynx [6, 9], larynx [10, 11], esophagus [12], colon [13, 14], cervix [15], external genitalia [16], skin [17], gastrointestinal tract [18], and oral cavity [7, 8, 16, 19–27]. …”