Abstract
Oral cancers are the sixth- to eighth- most common cancers worldwide, and account for 30-40% of all malignancies in India. About 80% of these are preceded by potentially malignant conditions like oral leucoplakia. Immune response against tumor cells is initially mediated by the innate immunity, mostly via Natural Killer (NK) cells; presence of CD57+ NK-cells in oral squamous cell carcinoma indicates good prognosis. The present study analyses the comparative expression of CD57+ NK cell in both these conditions. This hospital-based retrospective observational study included 90 parafn-block samples of diagnosed cases of oral leucoplakia and squamous cell carcinoma, which were immunohistochemically evaluated for CD57 expression. Immunocompromised and immunosuppressed patients were excluded. Chi-square test and One-way ANOVA were used for analysis, where p<0.05 was considered signicant, keeping α error at 5% and β error at 20%. The power of the study was 80%. 73.33% patients ranged from 31-60 years of age (51.01 ± 13.41 years). CD 57+ NK cell estimation (labelling index per high power eld) was negative in normal mucosa, 58.33 ± 4.36 in leucoplakia, 30.80 ± 1.91 in well-differentiated, and 19.91 ± 3.62 in moderatelydifferentiated squamous cell carcinoma (p<0.001). Expression of CD57+ NK-cells decreases with increasing severity of the disease, while increased expression may point towards a better prognosis. Genetic modication of NK-cells by combining their two-pronged approach of tumor elimination is a prospect, while the possible toxicity may be eliminated by introducing a 'suicide gene' in the modied NK-cells.
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