Determination of the relationship between the population of dendritic cells by protein S100 and the biological behavior of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) is the second most common primary neoplasm of the skin. It is associated with multiple risk factors, the main one being exposure to UV radiation. Numerous studies show that the greater presence of dendritic cells (DC) and, specifically, Langerhans cells (LC) in neoplasms of other locations is related to beneficial prognostic factors. The potential of DCs to amplify antigen-specific immune responses has been shown to make them candidates for cancer immunotherapy. These can be studied by immunohistochemistry with staining for S100 and CD1a. The objective is to study the correlation between the density of dendritic cells and the degree of differentiation of CSCC to estimate the course and prognosis.

All CSCC cases (n=14) belonged to the period 2017-2022 and the sampling was non-probability for convenience. Staining with H/E and immunohistochemical technique with S100 were performed. Multiple variables of prognostic relevance, which are related to biological behavior, and its comparison with the number of CDs, were analyzed using statistical analysis with Infostat software (frequency distribution, position and dispersion measures, and Fischer-Chi square test).

It was seen that the higher the number of DCs, the tumors were more differentiated (p=0.0029) and presented less tumor necrosis (p=0.05).

The study carried out supports previous analyzes reported in the literature, which show that the greater the number of dendritic cells in the tumor microenvironment, the better the differentiation of CCECs, being a favorable prognostic factor.