Distant metastasis was also associated with the eosinophil infiltration (P = 0.006); Stromal, intratumoral, invasive-margin, squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL), and perivascular tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs); CD68+, CD163+, and CD204+ macrophage infiltration.
Furthermore, Pearson's correlation analysis revealed that PFKFB3 was signifcantly correlated with both CD163 and CD31 (P<0.05), meanwhile CD163 was signifcantly correlated with CD31 (P<0.001), suggesting PFKFB3 may promote angiogenesis in tumor progression and metastases by regulating CD163+ TAMs infiltration in OSCC.
The macrophage differentiation at the primary tumor in the larynx was strongly CD163 positive supporting an immune permissive environment for tumor growth and metastasis.
High CD163 levels (>50% of cells per core; 43.8% of patients) were associated with CMAF nuclear expression and significantly correlated with better overall survival (<i>p</i> = 0.0025) and longer metastasis progression-free survival (MPFS, <i>p</i> = 0.0315) independently of metastatic status (<i>p</i> = 0.002).
A clear population of Mo-MDSCs with the typical cell surface phenotype (CD14(+)HLA-DR(low/-)CD86(low/-)CD80(low/-)CD163(low/-)) increased significantly first during disease progression and correlated to metastasis to lymph nodes and visceral organs.