The master switch: Comparative study of mast cell in oral epithelial dysplasia, oral submucous fibrosis and oral squamous cells carcinoma and their association with inflammation and angiogenesis

Abstract

Background:Dental and medical practitioners encounter wide spectrum of oral lesions in their day-to-day practice. Many of the lesions such as leukoplakia, oral submucous fibrosis (OSF), etc., are associated with tobacco and betel nut chewing. Oral leukoplakia, OSF, oral lichen planus and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) are the most commonly occurring oral diseases associated with characteristic clinical and histological features and are associated with chronic inflammation at some stage of the disease process.Aims:To study and compare the number, morphology and topographical distribution of mast cells in oral epithelial dysplasia (OED), OSF and OSCC and to correlate different types of mast cells with the inflammatory infiltrate and vascularity of the lesions.Materials and Methods:Total number of subjects was 120 and equally divided into four groups of 30 as controls, OED, OSF and OSCC cases. Two sections of from each tissue embedded in paraffin wax block were made which were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and toluidine blue stain. Mast cells were counted in five different zones.Results:In the present study, increased numbers of mast cells were seen in all lesions. The cases with mild, moderate and severe inflammation showed increased number of typical (TMCs), atypical (AMCs) and granular mast cells (GMCs), respectively.Conclusion:The result of the present study concludes that the mast cells play a key role in mediating the cross links between external angiogenic agent and local immunologic factors.

Comparing the Immuno-Expression of Endothelial Markers in Normal Oral Mucosa, Oral Epithelial Dysplasia and Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Relationship between E-Cadherin, Vimentin, CD31, CD117 and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

“…Apparently, mast cells would play a role in the progression of healthy oral mucosa affected by mutational changes towards dysplasia and OSCC. This finding is consistent with some of the OSCC literature [8,[32][33][34] and contradicts others [35,36] where the mast cell number showed a linear decrease when studying the same evolutionary process. This fact can be explained by a decrease in the synthesis of chemotactic factors for mast cells, such as SCF, IL-6 and IL-4 [37] and / or an increase in TGF-β and INF-γ Its apoptosis and decrease in CD117 receptor expression, respectively [35][36][37] reflecting a significant modification in the microenvironment during tumor initiation and progression.…”

Proliferative Effects of Histamine on Primary Human Pterygium Fibroblasts

“…An increased presence of mast cells has also been revealed in other chronic inflammatory conditions accompanied by fibrosis, such as pulmonary fibrosis, inflammatory bowel disease, peritoneal fibrosis, and oral submucous fibrosis, which indicates that mast cells and their mediators can modulate connective tissue metabolism [28–31]. It has been verified that increased levels of histamine can promote the proliferation of a variety of cancer cells, fibroblasts, neuron stem cell, and other cells [20, 21, 32].…”

“…In our study, only anti-H1R treatment reduced the proliferative effect induced by histamine. Histamine-induced proliferation has been shown to be mediated through H1R on many cells, including subcutaneous fibroblasts, neuron stem cells, astrocytoma, and lung cancer cells [17, 18, 31, 34]. Furthermore, H2R was also involved in histamine-induced fibroblast proliferation in many studies [17, 21, 32].…”

The role of mast cells in oral squamous cell carcinoma

“…The mast cell population is significantly elevated in oral epithelial dysplasia and oral squamous cell carcinomatous conditions [47–51]. Investigations suggest that the mast cell population is significantly more increased in oral squamous cell carcinomas than in oral epithelial dysplasia [52].…”