Oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas expressing CCR7 have poor prognoses

Objective and methods Tumor cell migration and metastasis have many similarities with leukocyte trafficking regulated by chemokines and their receptors. In this study, we investigated the expression of CC chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) in oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) using an immunohistochemical approach. Results Among 90 cases of oral and oropharyngeal SCCs, 54 cases (60%) were positive for CCR7. The CCR7-positive group had a significantly lower incidence of being disease-free and an overall lower survival rate than the CCR7-negative group (p < 0.01 and p < 0.01, respectively). Among the 35 patients who died of cancer, 28 patients (80%) were positive for CCR7. The expression of CCR7 was significantly associated with five clinical factors. SCCs expressing CCR7 tend to have large, lymph node metastases, progressive stages, local recurrences and cancer death. The CCR7 expression of metastatic SCCs in draining lymph nodes was detected, and the staining score of CCR7 between primary SCCs and metastatic SCCs were significantly correlated (p < 0.01). Conclusions The investigation of CCR7 expression in oral and oropharyngeal SCCs may be useful to predict patients prognoses.