Introduction: Evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of T-bet and IFN-gamma in lower lip (LLSCC) and oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC), verifying the presence of Th1 responses in lesions with different clinical conditions. Methods and materials: Thirty OTSCC and 30 LLSCC were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. T-bet was quantitatively assessed by parenchyma cell and stroma quantification, and IFN-gamma was semi-quantitatively analyzed: 1:0-25%; 2:26-50%; 3:51-75%; 4:> 75% immunopositive cells. Histological differentiation degrees were categorized as well differentiated (WD), moderately differentiated (MD), or poorly differentiated (PD). Results: OTSCC presented the highest number of T-bet(+), parenchyma (p: 0.006), stroma (p: 0.156), parenchyma/stroma (p: 0.015), with no relationship to histological malignancy grade. IFN-gamma higher concentrations in LLSCC were detected in parenchyma, stroma and in parenchyma/stroma (p: 0.000), as well as greater immunoreactivity in WD and MD (p: 0.001). In OTSCC, a positive and statistically significant correlation was observed between T-bet(+) in parenchyma and IFN-gamma in stroma(r: 0.388; p: 0.034), in addition to a statistically significant positive correlation between T-bet in parenchyma compared to stroma(r: 0.411; p: 0.024) and for IFN-gamma in both parenchyma and stroma(r: 0.775; p: 0.000) in LLSCC. Higher T-bet(+) was observed in OTSCCs, although higher IFN-gamma was detected in LLSCCs. Conclusion: Thus, we suggest that, even though LLSCC presented lower T-bet(+), the favorable microenvironment in these lesions led to an expressive activation of IFN-gamma by T-bet(+), considerably acting on Th1 differentiation and in antitumor activity, which, admittedly, present less aggressive behavior, reinforcing once again the important role of this cytokine and its use in strategy to fight cancer.
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