Mismatch Repair Proteins and CD45RO-Positive Lymphocytes in Malignant and Benign Salivary Gland Tumors: A Favorable Association with Disease Clinical Parameters

Hamid Ghaderi; Yousef Mohammadi; Simin Ahmadvand; Akbar Safaei; Sajjad Gerdabi; Fatemeh Asadian; Bijan Khademi; Mohammad Reza Haghshenas; Abbas Ghaderi

doi:10.1055/s-0045-1806721

Mismatch Repair Proteins and CD45RO-Positive Lymphocytes in Malignant and Benign Salivary Gland Tumors: A Favorable Association with Disease Clinical Parameters

Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2026 Mar 17;30(1):1-9. doi: 10.1055/s-0045-1806721. eCollection 2026 Jan.

Authors

Hamid Ghaderi¹, Yousef Mohammadi², Simin Ahmadvand³, Akbar Safaei⁴, Sajjad Gerdabi², Fatemeh Asadian⁵, Bijan Khademi⁶, Mohammad Reza Haghshenas², Abbas Ghaderi²

Affiliations

¹ Violet Vines Marshman Centre for Rural Health Research, La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University Bendigo, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia.
² School of Medicine, Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
³ Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁴ Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
⁵ Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, School of Paramedical Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
⁶ Department of Otolaryngology, Otolaryngology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: Salivary gland tumors (SGTs) are uncommon lesions that account for 3 to 6% of head and neck cancers.

Objective: To investigate mismatch repair (MMR) proteins, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and CD45RO expression in salivary gland tumors (SGTs).

Methods: Proteins MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2 of the MMR proteins family and CD45RO were evaluated using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections were scored to explore the rate of TILs.

Results: None of the malignant and benign SGTs had partial or complete loss of at least one of the MMR proteins. Mucoepidermoid carcinomas, adenoid cystic carcinomas, salivary ductal carcinomas, and acinic cell carcinomas as malignant tumor types, and pleomorphic adenoma and Warthin's tumors as the most common benign tumors showed considerable differences in terms of the infiltration of TILs and CD45RO. Malignant tumors exhibited a notable difference in the infiltration of CD45RO ⁺ cells compared to benign ones. Both the tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) stage and the histological grade were shown to be linked with the infiltration status of CD45RO ⁺ cells.

Conclusion: Our results show that MMR deficiency might be insignificant and less relevant in SGTs. However, differences in TIL rate and CD45RO expression indicate that each of the SGT tumor types may have distinguished immune microenvironments. Malignant SGTs have higher infiltration of activated immune cells, and, thereby, these cells can be considered as good indicators of patient's status.

Keywords: CD45RO + memory cells; mismatch repair proteins; salivary gland tumors; tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.

The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ).