Immunohistochemical study of macrophages subpopulations associated with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, with and without metastasis

Introduction: Stromal cells interact with tumor cells and play an important role in cancer invasion and metastasis. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) can exhibit M1 phenotype, important immune effector cells, or M2 phenotype, able to suppress the function of M1 macrophages and influence angiogenesis and tissue repair. The CD68 antibody recognizes M1 and M2 macrophages, whereas CD163 antibody is specific only to identify M2 macrophages. Objective: To investigate the presence of TAMs in a number of cases squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue by associating it with the occurrence of metastasis. Material and methods: Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate the immunopositivity for CD68 and CD163 in 27 cases of SCC of the tongue. Results: The percentage of CD68 positive macrophages was higher than CD163 positive macrophages in all specimens studied. Comparing CD163 and CD68 immunostaining in the studied groups, it was observed that cases without metastasis had a higher percentage of CD68 positive cells in relation to CD163 positive cells, which was statistically significant. Conclusion: Considering these results, there was a predominance of M1 macrophages in SCC of the tongue cases without metastasis, suggesting the influence of these cells in clinical behavior of the lesion.