Tissue eosinophilia in oral and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and normal oral and cutaneous tissues

Eosinophils produce proteases that stimulate invasion in cancers. Due to the more malignant potential of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) compared to cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC), the aim of the present study was to compare tissue eosinophilia between OSCC and CSCC samples to understand whether tissue eosinophilia play a role in different biological behavior of OSCC and CSCC. Also, we assessed the relation between clinical stage and mean eosinophil counts.
This cross-sectional study included histopathological slides of 30 OSCC, 30 CSCC, 15 normal skin and 15 normal oral mucosa samples. The mean number of eosinophil per square millimeter (eos/mm2) was calculated and the severity of tissue eosinophilia was accordingly categorized into absent/mild and sever. Clinical stages of OSCC and CSCC samples were extracted from archived files.
There was significant relationship between mean eosinophil count and clinical stage in both OSCC and CSCC groups (P Intense tissue eosinophilia is correlated with stromal invasion in OSCC and CSCC samples as seen in advanced clinical stage. Different biological behaviors of OSCC and CSCC do not depend on eosinophils and other factors can be involved.