A preliminary study of IgG4 expression and its prognostic significance in oral squamous cell carcinoma

TL;DR

This study explores IgG4 expression in tongue cancer and finds that higher levels are linked to better patient outcomes.

Contribution

The study identifies IgG4 as a potential favorable prognostic marker in tongue squamous cell carcinoma.

Findings

Higher IgG4 expression is associated with less advanced tumor invasion and better survival outcomes.

IgG4 expression is an independent prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival in TSCC patients.

Well-differentiated tumors show a trend toward higher IgG4 expression.

Abstract

IgG4, which plays a pivotal role in the progression of phenotypically diverse tumors, serves as a prognostic marker because of its influence on cancer immunity. Nevertheless, the functions of IgG4 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) remained to be identified.

To evaluate the significance of IgG4 expression in TSCC, we performed immunohistochemical analysis of patients with TSCC (n = 50) to evaluate the correlation of IgG4 expression with patients’ clinicopathological features and prognoses.

Higher IgG4 expression detected in TSCC tissues was associated with the less advanced mode of invasion (Yamamoto-Kohama [YK] 1–3) (P = 0.031) and with well-differentiated TSCC (P = 0.077). Kaplan–Meier analyses revealed that the higher IgG4 expression group exhibited better prognosis indicated by overall survival (OS) (P = 0.04) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) (P = 0.016). Univariate analysis of OS indicated that IgG4 expression was associated with longer OS (P = 0.061), and multivariate analysis of RFS revealed that IgG4 expression served as an independent prognostic factor for longer RFS (P = 0.005).

These results indicate that relatively higher IgG4 levels serve as a favorable prognostic factor for TSCC.

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