Recent evidences suggested that Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) may be involved in tumor formation by modulating of the tumor microenvironment, but it is still unclear the potential of MSCs in the malignant transformation of oral mucosa. Using a chemically-induced oral carcinogenesis model by 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO), we generated precancerous lesions and cancerous lesions in the oral cavity of rats. Flow cytometric analysis on lesions derived single cell suspension revealed an increase in the proportion of MSCs and a decreased proportion of T cell during oral mucosa malignancy. Moreover, MSCs showed increased immunosuppression capacity on T cell proliferation during mucosa malignancy. At last, we demonstrated that higher frequency of lesions resident MSCs was correlated with more Ki67 expression in the lesion, which indicated higher cellular proliferative status in the lesions. Our study demonstrated that MSCs may play an important role in oral mucosa malignant transformation through regulating T cell proliferation.

最近的证据表明，间充质干细胞（MSCs）可能通过调节肿瘤微环境参与肿瘤的形成，但尚不清楚MSCs在口腔粘膜恶性转化中的潜力。使用化学诱导的4-硝基喹啉-1-氧化物（4NQO）口腔致癌模型，我们在大鼠的口腔中产生了癌前病变和癌性病变。病变来源的单细胞悬液的流式细胞仪分析显示，口腔粘膜恶性肿瘤期间MSCs的比例增加，T细胞的比例降低。此外，在粘膜恶性肿瘤期间，MSC对T细胞增殖显示出更高的免疫抑制能力。最后，我们证明了病变驻留的MSC的较高频率与病变中更多的Ki67表达相关，说明病变中细胞增殖状态较高。我们的研究表明，间充质干细胞可能通过调节T细胞增殖在口腔黏膜恶性转化中发挥重要作用。