EXPRESSION OF GRANULOCYTE-COLONY-STIMULATING FACTOR-RECEPTOR CORRELATES WITH PROGNOSIS IN ORAL AND MESOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor receptors (G-CSFRs) have been ob served on the surface of not only hematopoietic cells but also several cancer cells. The stimulation of G-CSF has been demonstrated to induc e proliferation and activation of G-CSFR-positive cells, In this study , we investigated the expression of G-CSFR on the surface of tumor cel ls and G-CSF production in oral and mesopharyngeal squamous cell carci noma (SCC) by an immunohistochemical approach, Of 58 oral and mesophar yngeal SCCs, 31 cases (53.4%) and 36 cases (62.1%) were positive for G -CSFR and G-CSF, respectively, There was no association between G-CSFR expression and G-CSF staining. In the group positive for G-CSFR expre ssion, relapse was significantly more likely after primary treatment ( P = 0.0069), whereas there was no association between G-CSFR expressio n and age, sex, tumor size, lymph node metastasis, and clinical stage, Also, the G-CSFR-positive groups had a significantly lower disease-fr ee and overall survival rate than the G-CSFR-negative groups (P = 0.01 72 and 0.0188, respectively), However, none of the clinical markers co rrelated significantly with G-CSF staining, nor did the status of G-CS F production influence the overall survival, The results imply that as sessment of G-CSFR mag prove valuable in selecting patients with oral and mesopharyngeal SCC for aggressive therapy.