Accumulation of CD208+ Mature Dendritic Cells Does Not Correlate With Survival Time in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients

PurposeTo investigate the distribution and clinical outcomes of tumor-infiltrating CD208+ mature dendritic cells (mDCs) in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).Materials and MethodsUsing immunohistochemical analysis, the distribution of CD208+ mDCs in adjacent non-neoplastic tissues (NTs) and tumor tissue, including the tumor stroma (TS) and tumor nest (TN), of 79 patients with OSCC was evaluated. The analysis was quantitative, and the number of positive cells was counted in 5 microscopic high-power fields (×400). At the gene expression level, CD208 expression also was assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Kaplan Meier analyses were used to analyze the prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating CD208+ mDCs.ResultsThe number of tumor-infiltrating CD208+ mDCs was larger in the TS and TN than in the NTs (P < .0001) and the number of CD208+ mDCs in the TS was larger in patients with OSCC and lymph node positivity (P < .05). At the gene expression level, CD208 also was upregulated in patients with lymph node positivity (P < .05). The number of infiltrating CD208+ mDCs was not associated with a patient's survival time.ConclusionsThe number of tumor-infiltrating CD208+ mDCs in the TS was larger in patients with OSCC and lymph node positivity, but the accumulation of CD208+ mDCs did not correlate with survival time in patients with OSCC.