Investigation of the role of tumor microenvironment elements expression on the disease mechanism in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma tissues

Objecktive:Head and neck cancers are in the 6th place, constituting 4% of all cancer cases worldwide. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common type of tumor among the cancer types in head and neck anatomy and physiology. With the expanding literature and technological opportunities in science, individual and tumor-specific treatment methods have come to the fore in recent years, and research on cancer types with high prevalence and recurrence rate, which primarily affect the quality of life of the patient, is increasing. In this context, tumor microenvironment elements have become targets, but the relationship between head and neck cancers and disease has not been elucidated yet. For this purpose, we aimed to investigate the relationship between head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) tumor and tumor surrounding tissues with some immune system cell types in the microenvironment. Material and Method: In our study, a total of 94 samples were taken from the tumor (n = 47) tissues of the patients (n = 47) and healthy (n = 47) tissues of the patients who came to the Istanbul University Istanbul Medical Faculty Otorhinolaryngology Clinic and were diagnosed with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and operated. used. RNA was isolated from all tissues, cDNA was synthesized and microenvironment elements were obtained by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method; Quantitative analysis of CD163, CD274, FUT4, FOXP3, CD86, ITGAX gene expression levels was performed. Results: As a result of the experiments, it was observed that CD274, FUT4, FOXP3 and CD86 gene expressions in tumor tissue increased significantly compared to healthy tissue. When gene levels were examined through lymph node involvement, it was found that FUT4 gene expression change was statistically increased in patients with lymph node involvement (42.2%). In addition, it was found that CD163 gene expression increased significantly in the patient group without perivascular invasion (48.9%), while FUT4 gene expression increased statistically compared to the presence of ENE (23.4%). In patients with poorly tumor differentiation (4.4%), ITGAX gene expression was statistically significantly decreased compared to patients with well-to-moderate differentiation. Conclusion:According to our study findings showing the relationship between increased gene expressions and clinical presentations in tumor tissue compared to healthy tissue, it is thought that these genes have clinical use potential that can be associated with the HNSCC disease mechanism. In this context, our thesis is a pioneer that demonstrates that microenvironment elements can be selected as a target among potential biomarkers that can be included in early diagnosis, diagnosis, treatment and treatment follow-up in the HNSCC, with new studies that can be carried out by increasing the number of patient samples and adding further analysis.