Characterization and ex vivo expansion of rare in situ cytokine secreting T cell populations from tumor tissue and blood of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients

Tumor microenvironment in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a highly aggressive and malignant tumor of oral cavity with a poor prognosis and high mortality due to the limitations of existing therapies. The significant role of tumor microenvironment (TME) in the initiation, development, and progression of OSCC has been widely recognized. Various cells in TME, including tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), T lymphocytes, tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs), myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and dendritic cells (DCs), form a complicated and important cellular network to modulate OSCC proliferation, invasion, migration, and angiogenesis by secreting RNAs, proteins, cytokines, and metabolites. Understanding the interactions among cells in TME provides the foundation for advanced clinical diagnosis and therapies. This review summarizes the current literature that describes the role of various cellular components and other TME factors in the progression of OSCC, hoping to provide new ideas for the novel OSCC treatment strategies targeting the complicated cellular network and factors that mediate the interactive loops among cells in TME.

Comprehensive bioinformatics analysis combined with experimental validation to screen biomarkers for malignant transformation of oral leukoplakia

Oral leukoplakia (OLK) is the most common potentially malignant disorders in the oral cavity. This study aimed to screen the key genes of OLK malignant transformation using the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and experiments. In this study, the GEO database was employed to screen OLK malignant transformation-related genes, which were subsequently identified with a series of bioinformatic analyses. External validation showed that the model based on LAPTM4B, NR3C1, and COX6A1 had high accuracy in diagnosing OLK malignant transformation. Furthermore, the DMBA-induced potentially malignant disorders and OSCC models in vivo and real-time PCR experiment in vitro further verified the database analysis results. In conclusion, three key genes (LAPTM4B, NR3C1, and COX6A1) were screened as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of OLK malignant transformation.