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131. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Chirurgie

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie

25.03. - 28.03.2014, Berlin

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Cutaneous SCC and oral SCC – dual immunosuppression via expression of FOXP3 in tumour cells and through recruitment of FOXP3+ regulatory T-cells

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  • Stephanie Schipmann - Universitätsklinikum Münster, Neurochirurgie, Münster
  • Kai Wermker - Fachklinik Hornheide, Mund-, Kiefer- und Gesichtschirurgie, Münster
  • Christian Ewelt - Universitätsklinikum Münster, Neurochirurgie, Münster
  • Andreas Günther - Universitätsklinikum Münster, Neurochirurgie, Münster
  • Kushtrim Shala - Universitätsklinikum Münster, Neurochirurgie, Münster
  • Joachim Schulze - Universitätsklinikum Münster, Neurochirurgie, Münster
  • Johannes Kleinhenz - Universitätsklinikum, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Münster
  • Georg Brunner - Universitätsklinikum, Neurochirurgie, Münster

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie. 131. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Chirurgie. Berlin, 25.-28.03.2014. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2014. Doc14dgch388

doi: 10.3205/14dgch388, urn:nbn:de:0183-14dgch3888

Published: March 21, 2014

© 2014 Schipmann et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Introduction: Not only are regulatory T-cells (Tregs) an essential component of the immune system in maintaining immunologic self tolerance by suppressing expansion of immune cells, but they imply a role in tumour immunology, too.

Showing dramatic increasing incidences, cutaneous SCC and oral SCC a growing public health problem. We identified Tregs using their transcription factor FOXP3 in these tumours.

Material and methods: The expression of FOXP3 mRNA was examined in 21 primary cutaneous and oral squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), 14 metastases, 10 probes of normal skin and appropriate cancer cell lines using quantitative real-time PCR. Expression of mature FOXP3 protein was determined using double-immunohistochemistry (ICH) for FOXP3 and a specific tumour marker.

Results: FOXP3 mRNA expression in SCC samples was significantly higher than in normal skin. Tregs were found in tumour surroundings as well as within tumour cell islands. However, some FOXP3+ cells had morphologic characteristics of SCC tumour cells.

Conclusion: As a result, tumours might recruit Tregs into their microenvironment in order to block normal immunosurveillance and destruction by the immune system. FOXP3 expression by tumour cells themselves might present a novel mechanism of tumour immune escape.