Correlations of abnormally upregulated CC chemokine ligand 18 (CCL18) with clinical stage and cervical lymph node metastasis status in serum and tumor tissue of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

This study aims to investigate the expression and clinical significance of CC chemokine ligand 18 (CCL18) in the serum and tumor tissue of the patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the serum CCL18 contents in 59 patients with OSCC and 17 healthy adults; immunohistochemistry was used to detect the CCL18 expressions in 97 specimens of OSCC, 92 para-cancer tissue specimens, and 20 specimens of normal oral mucosa; and the correlations of the CCL18 expressions in the serum and tumor tissue of the OSCC patients with their clinicopathological parameters were then analyzed. The serum CCL18 expression in the OSCC patients was significantly higher than healthy people (P < 0.05), and that in the patients with advanced clinical stage was higher than those with early clinical stage (P < 0.05). The CCL18 expression in the tumor tissue of the OSCC patients was higher than those in para-tumor tissue (P < 0.01) and in normal oral mucosa (P < 0.01), and the expression in the patients with advanced clinical stage or cervical lymph node metastasis was higher than those in early clinical stage (P < 0.05) or without cervical lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). CCL18 was abnormally upregulated in the serum and tumor tissue of the OSCC patients and closely related with the clinical stage and cervical lymph node metastasis status, suggesting that CCL18 might play an important role in the occurrence and development of OSCC.