Evaluation of myofibroblasts in oral squamous cell carcinoma using H1 calponin: An immunohistochemical study

Abstract

Background:Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignancy of the oral mucosa. Stromal myofibroblasts play an important role in tumor invasion and metastasis, due to its ability to modify the extracellular matrix. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the presence of myofibroblasts in normal mucosa, early invasive carcinoma and different grades of OSCC.Materials and Methods:The study included the archival tissues of 18 OSCC of well, moderate and poorly differentiated grades, three early invasive carcinomas and five normal mucosa. Myofibroblasts were identified by immunohistochemical detection of h1 calponin.Results:The percentage and intensity of h1 calponin were examined and positive immunostaining was observed in the myofibroblasts of all SCCs and early invasive carcinomas; however, these cells did not stain in the normal epithelium specimens. The presence of myofibroblasts was significantly higher in invasive pattern of OSCCs compared to normal mucosa cases (P < 0.070). A significant difference was not observed between the different grades of OSCC (P ≤ 0.812).Conclusion:These findings show the presence of myofibroblasts in OSCC but not in normal mucosa, suggesting that the genetically altered epithelium (carcinomatous epithelium) may have an inductive effect on the adjacent stroma to produce myofibroblasts. Also transdifferentiation of myofibroblasts is induced somewhere in the invasive stage of SCC irrespective of the epithelial cell differentiation.

Evaluation of myofibroblasts in superficial and deep layers of oral squamous cell carcinoma; an immunohistochemical study

“…Consistent with the results of our investigation, the presence of stromal myofibroblasts was statistically different in grades I , II, and III of OSCC. Contrary to the present study, Parasad et al, Etemad Moghadam et al, and Ganesan K et al did not observed any significant difference in the distribution of myofibroblasts among different grades of OSCC (11)(12)(13).…”

“…The results also showed that most of the specimens had scores 1 and 2 in the superficial layers of OSCC. In contrast, most of the specimens had score 3 in the deep promoting cancer-associated fibroblasts (12).…”

A primary tumor gene expression signature identifies a crucial role played by tumor stroma myofibroblasts in lymph node involvement in oral squamous cell carcinoma

“…The expression of muscle tissue associated genes in samples from lymph node positive patients but not in OSCC cell lines suggests that such gene signature may derive from myofibroblasts, which are absent in normal oral mucosa and constitute the OSCC stroma [ 29 ].…”