AUGMENTATION OF TIL-CD3 IN ORAL CANCER: VARIATIONS IN RELATION TO STAGE AND GRADE OF DISEASE

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is often associated with a lymphocytic infiltrate that is believed to represent an in vivo immune reaction to the tumor cells. In this study, the tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) associated with primary OSCC were characterized in hundred newly-diagnosed patients to determine the nature of the immune response to the primary tumor and to correlate it with stage and grade of the disease in order to derive its significance. TILs were estimated in surgically removed oral cancer tissue, histopathologically and with immunohistochemistry, using antibody against CD3 (Dakopatts, Denmark). TIL were estimated in intratumoral and peritumoral areas and arbitrarily graded in to four groups. Site wise CD3 infiltration was found maximum in buccal mucosa and minimum in tongue, rest of the cases being distributed in other locations and the distribution showed statistical significant in intratumoral location. There was no significant correlation between tumor size and CD3 infiltration. Further CD3 infiltration was not related to either lymph node enlargement or bone involvement, however it was more in intratumoral than in peritumoral region and this was statistically not significant. OSCC initiates immune response as indicated by increase in CD3 cells infiltrating and surrounding the tumor, which persists or abates in an inconsistent manner with the growth of tumor size, grade and stage of the disease with time lapse