Tumour budding in oral squamous cell carcinoma: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Tumour budding is a simple and reliable prognostic marker for OSCC. Evaluation of tumour budding could facilitate personalised management of OSCC.

Does evaluation of tumour budding in diagnostic biopsies have a clinical relevance? A systematic review

“…Notably, most of the studies that evaluated tumour budding in pre‐operative biopsies were on colorectal cancer (Table ), where a strong correlation between tumour budding and lymph node metastasis has been observed . The ability of tumour budding to prognosticate nodal metastasis has also been reported in other cancers . Moreover, the prognostic impact of tumour budding for nodal metastasis, patient survival or both was prominent in the early stages of other cancers .…”

“…Tumour budding is a hallmark of cancer invasion and has been recently validated as a promising prognostic marker in colon cancer, oesophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer and oral cancer . Interestingly, the meta‐analyses conducted on the published studies confirm the prognostic value of tumour budding in oesophageal, colorectal and oral cancers . Moreover, tumour budding is currently considered as an additional prognosticator by the Union for International Cancer Control's tumour–necrosis–metastasis (TNM) classification .…”

“…It was speculated that tumour budding is the result of interactions between cancer cells and tumour microenvironment . Tumour budding represents active invasion, dissociation and epithelial–mesenchymal transition . A relationship to cancer stem cells has also been reported.…”

“…A relationship to cancer stem cells has also been reported. Recent and rapidly accumulating data indicate that tumour budding may open new perspectives for prognostication and treatment planning of many cancers . The prognostic value of tumour budding in diagnostic biopsies has been examined in recent studies .…”

“…In addition, some of these studies reported the concordance of the score of tumour budding in pre‐operative diagnostic biopsy samples and postoperative surgical specimens . However, the implementation of tumour budding for pathology reports and treatment planning still requires further studies …”