The number of intratumoral dendritic cells and ?-chain expression in T cells as prognostic and survival biomarkers in patients with oral carcinoma

BACKGROUND Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen-presenting cells with a unique ability to cross prime T cells and generate strong antitumor responses. This study evaluates the presence and prognostic significance of DCs as well as functional T cells, which accumulate in the microenvironment in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). METHODS Immunohistochemistry for S-100 positive or p55 positive DCs and for T-cell receptor (TcR)-associated ζ-chain expression in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was performed in 132 paraffin embedded specimens from patients with primary OSCC. The median clinical follow-up for the patients was 50 months. The numbers of intratumoral DCs or TILs exp…