Abstract:

Objective  To investigate the effects of oral cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) on lymphangiogenesis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods  CAFs and normal fibroblasts (NFs) were obtained from the tissues of patients with OSCC who did not receive radio-chemotherapy before operation. And the CAFs and NFs were isolated by method of tissue block and identified by immunohistochemical staining. The effects of CAFs (group A) and NFs (group B) to human lymphatic endothelial cells (HLEC) were detected by using a 24-multiwell  transwell cell culture chamber. DMEM sugar medium was as blank control group. The number of proliferative, migratory, invasive and tubes of HLEC were counted under inverted phase contrast microscope. Results  The proliferative number of HLEC of group A for 96, 144, 196 h was significantly higher than that of group B and blank control group, group B higher than blank control group (P<0.01). The migratory and invasive number of HLEC of group A for 96 h was significantly higher than that of group B and blank control group, group B higher than blank control group (P<0.01). The number of tube formation of HLEC of group A for 24 h was significantly higher than that of group B and blank control group, group B higher than blank control group (P<0.01). Conclusion  CAFs promote HLEC’s proliferation, migration, invasion, tube formation, and these effects are stronger than NFs.

Key words: oral squamous cell carcinoma, cancer-associated fibroblasts, normal fibroblasts, human lymphatic endothelial cells