https://www.selleckchem.com/products/k03861.html Although cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the most crucial stromal cells, characterizing their heterogeneity is far from complete. The authors report a novel subset of CAFs in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), which positively expressed CD68, the classic marker of macrophages. The spatial and temporal distribution of the CD68+ CAF subset of OSCC (n = 104) was determined by CD68/α-SMA immunohistochemistry of serial sections. The CD68+ α-SMA+ CAF subset was found to be elevated from dysplasia to OSCC. Moreover, although both the tumor center and invasive front harbor an abundant CD68+ CAF subset, patients with low-CD68+ CAFs in the tumor center showed more recurrence after operation and shorter survival time, indicating the different function of CD68+ CAFs in tumor initiation and progression. Functional analysis in the OSCC-CAF co-culture system found knockdown of CD68 did not change the phenotype of CAFs, tumor growth, or migration. Unexpectedly, low-CD68+ CAFs were associated with aberrant immune balance. A high proportion of tumor-supportive Tregs was found in patients with low-CD68+ CAFs. Mechanistically, knockdown of CD68 in CAFs contributed to the up-regulation of chemokine CCL17 and CCL22 of tumor cells to enhance Treg recruitment. Thus, up-regulated CD68+ fibroblasts participate in tumor initiation, but the low-CD68+ CAF subset in OSCC is conducive to Treg recruitment in the tumor microenvironment and contribute to poor prognosis of OSCC patients. Tumor metastasis to the draining lymph nodes is an important indicator of patient prognosis and is tightly regulated by molecular interactions mediated by lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs). However, these mechanisms remain undefined in the head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). HNSCC cells and LECs were used to determine the specific pathways mediating tumor-lymphatic cross talk. We investigated the effects of a pentacyclic triterpenoid, methyl 2-