Increased Tc22 and Treg/CD8 ratio contribute to aggressive growth of transplant associated squamous cell carcinoma.

Immune suppressed organ transplant recipients suffer increased morbidity and mortality from primary cutaneous SCC. We studied tumor microenvironment in transplant-associated SCC (TSCC), immune-competent SCC and normal skin by IHC, IF and RT-PCR on surgical discard. We determined T cell polarization in TSCC and SCC by intracellular cytokine staining of T cell crawl outs from human skin explants.

Tumor-associated macrophages in the cutaneous SCC microenvironment are heterogeneously activated.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) may have an important role in tumor immunity. We studied the activation state of TAMs in cutaneous SCC, the second most common human cancer. CD163 was identified as a more abundant, sensitive, and accurate marker of TAMs when compared with CD68.

The human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma microenvironment is characterized by increased lymphatic density and enhanced expression of macrophage-derived VEGF-C.

Metastases from primary cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) account for the majority of the ∼10,000 non-melanoma skin cancer deaths in the United States annually. We studied lymphangiogenesis in human SCC because of the potential link to metastasis. SCC samples were stained for lymphatic endothelial vessel marker LYVE-1 and positive cells were counted and compared with cells in normal skin.