Characterization of human T helper-like regulatory T cells and chemokine expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Objectives: In this study, we evaluated the phenotype of tissue resident Th-like Tregs and the expression of CCL1, CCL17, CCL18 and CCL22 in cancer tissues from patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma compared to healthy oral mucosa.
Methods: We use flow cytometry to evaluate the phenotype of tissue resident Th-like Tregs. The expression of the chemokines was evaluated by immunohistochemistry of paraffin-embedded tissue sections and ELISA in secretome of tissues from patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma compared to healthy oral mucosa.
Results: Our results demonstrated that patients with oral cancer exhibited higher percentages of Th2-like Tregs with high CCR8 expression. In addition, levels of CCL18 were increased in cancer samples in comparison with healthy mucosa.
Conclusions: These results suggest that CCL18 may supports the migration of CCR8-expressing Th2-like Tregs to malignant areas in oral cancer.