Immunohistochemical expression of CD3, CD20, CD45, CD68 and bcl-2 in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To study the main processes involved in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC): apoptosis and inflammation. STUDY DESIGN: The immunohistochemical expression of bcl-2, CD3, CD20, CD45 and CD68 were studied by standard linked streptavidin-biotin horseradish peroxidase technique in 21 paraffin-embedded OSCC specimens in order to establish their possible correlation with the degree of tumoral differentiation. RESULTS: A trend was observed for the association of inflammatory infiltrate with the degree of tumor differentiation: well and moderately differentiated tumors tend to be associated to a dense inflammatory infiltrate (57.9% of cases), while poorly differentiated cancers seem to be associated to a low inflammatory infiltrate in 85.7% of cases. The most expressed molecule was CD68, followed by CD45, CD20 and CD3. Bcl-2 was low or moderately expressed, and immunostaining was more diffuse in moderately or poorly differentiated oral cancers. CONCLUSION: Inflammatory infiltrate and the degree of OSCC differentiation may be linked, but the specific role still remains unclear.