RESUMO
BACKGROUND: This estudie evaluated the immunostaining of cytokines in oral carcinoma, in tissue of margin of surgical resecate (MSR) and metastatic lymph nodes, as well as their role in patient prognosis. METHODS: A retrospective study was carried out in patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas, and sociodemographic and clinical-pathological data were evaluated. In addition, surgical site analysis of the patients was conducted by immunohistochemistry, using a tissue microarray for inflammatory (Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, Interleukin-1beta, Interleukin-6, interleukin-10), transcription NF-kappa B and CD68 markers. Immunoexpression was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively using ImageJ software, and data were correlated with the prognostic factors and patient survival rates. RESULTS: There was a greater immunoexpression of inflammatory and CD68 cytokines in primary tumour and lymph node metastasis than in MSR. In a multinomial logistic regression model, patients with low education (p = 0.041) and a high histoscore for TNF-α (p = 0.021) showed a survival rate of 15.64 (95% CI = 1.13-217.24) and 6.81 (95% CI = 1.02-105.96). CONCLUSION: Therefore, despite there is an increased immunoexpression of cytokines in the primary tumour, only TNF-α was the inflammatory cytokine that influenced the survival of patients with oral cancer.