Expression of E-Cadherin and Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oral Tongue / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the relationship of the clinicopathologic findings in squamous cell carcinomas of the oral tongue, we studied the expression pattern of E-cadherin, and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) by immunohistochemical stain. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Twenty-five patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the oral tongue were classified as their tumor stage, lymph node metastasis and histopathological grade and their paraffin-embedded surgical specimens were investigated by immunohistochemical analysis using monoclonal E-cadherin antibody and MMP-2 antibody. RESULTS: There was not any significant correlation between the expression of E-cadherin and the tumor stage (p>0.05), but it showed significantly reduced expression of E-cadherin in moderately or poorly differentiated carcinoma (p=0.034). The expression of MMP-2 increased significantly with respect to the metastasis of the cervical lymph node in early carcinoma (p=0.045) but it was not correlated with primary tumor size or histological differentiation (p>0.05). We cannot find any inverse relationship between E-cadherin and MMP-2 expression in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSION: The expression of E-cadherin and MMP-2 may be related the disease processes of squamous cell carcinomas of the oral tongue and will provide the possibility of the its biochemical parameters.