TY - JOUR T1 - Borderline Microenvironment Fibrosis Is a Novel Poor Prognostic Marker of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 4319 LP - 4326 DO - 10.21873/anticanres.14434 VL - 40 IS - 8 AU - KEI TSUCHIHASHI AU - MUNEHIDE NAKATSUGAWA AU - JUN-ICHI KOBAYASHI AU - TAKASHI SASAYA AU - RENA MORITA AU - TERUFUMI KUBO AU - TAKAYUKI KANASEKI AU - TOMOHIDE TSUKAHARA AU - HIROKO ASANUMA AU - TADASHI HASEGAWA AU - HIROSHI HIRANO AU - AKIHIRO MIYAZAKI AU - YOSHIHIKO HIROHASHI AU - TOSHIHIKO TORIGOE Y1 - 2020/08/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/40/8/4319.abstract N2 - Background/Aim: The tumor microenvironment (TME) balances tumor growth and suppression through humoral factors and cell-cell interactions. In oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), TMEs have been associated with prognosis of cancer patients and are evaluated by microscopy; however, these methods of evaluation vary among studies. Materials and Methods: To evaluate the TME, borderline microenvironment fibrosis (bMF) was evaluated histologically in 236 OSCC cases and used to determine the clinicopathological status. Results: bMF was observed in 47% (110 in 236 cases) of OSCC cases and associated with higher T category, N category, stage, histological grade and mode of invasion. bMF-positive was related to overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Multivariate analysis revealed that bMF-positive was an independent factor for OS in all cases [n=226; HR=1.683 (1.018–2.781); p=0.042], especially in T1+T2 cases [n=186; HR=1.926 (1.079–3.440); p=0.024], and PFS in all cases [n=226; HR=2.254 (1.397–3.637); p=0.001]. Conclusion: bMF may act as a novel biomarker for OSCC. ER -