Introduction: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for most of oral cancers which is about (90%) of all types. OSCC is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Early detection; diagnosis and early treatment are still the key points for OSCC patients to improve survival rate and quality of life. Toll like receptors (TLRs), through their role in innate immunity, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several diseases, including cancer and OSCC is one of these cancers. Nodal metastasis is playing a key role in detecting the prognosis and the outcome. TLR7 is one of the TLRS which is expressed in OSCC, the correlation between the expression of this receptor and the presence of nodal metastasis has been assessed and evaluated as TLR7 may be of great significance in tumors metastasis so can help in prognosis and aid in treatment modalities.
Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression of TLR7 in the specimens of primary tumor tissues of OSCC and correlate it with the lymph node involvement.
Materials and methods: TLR7expression was studied in 50 OSCC cases. The specimens were taken from the primary tumor of 25 cases with positively involved lymph nodes and another 25 cases with negatively involved lymph nodes and 10 normal mucosal tissues taken from OSCC patients and healthy individuals. Immuno-histochemical (IHC) staining was performed using the Labeled Strept-Avidin Biotin complex method (LSAB), using the anti-TLR7 antibody.
Results:TLR7 showed high expression in OSCC cases with positive lymph node metastasis than those with negative lymph node metastasis.
Conclusions: TLR7 expression could be a guiding tool used to detect prognosis in OSCC patients and as an indicator for metastasis