1. ¹Cancer Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
2. ²Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
3. ³Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

Correspondence: Dr Lisa M. Coussens, Cancer Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, 2340 Sutter Street, N-221, San Francisco, California 94143, USA. E-mail: coussens@cc.ucsf.edu

⁴Current address: Department of Molecular Biology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Received 29 March 2006; Revised 12 May 2006; Accepted 22 May 2006.

Abstract

Infiltration of leukocytes into tissue is a common feature of many physiological and pathological conditions. Histopathologically, the diversity of leukocytes that infiltrate a tissue associated with a pathophysiologic response cannot be appreciated and/or examined unless highly selective immunologic detection methods are utilized. Specific populations of infiltrating leukocytes into squamous tissues harboring pre-malignant and/or malignant keratinocytes have recently been demonstrated to play a functionally significant role in the pathogenesis of squamous carcinomas. To evaluate immune cell types and quantify changes in their relative presence and localization during multi-stage neoplastic progression, we performed flow cytometry and histochemical detection using lineage-selective markers. Herein, we provide detailed methodology facilitating these analyses.