TRANSFERRIN RECEPTOR IN ORAL TUMORS

The transferrin receptor (TfR) appears in vigorously proliferating cel ls. We did an immunohistochemical study of TfR in oral tissues and a q uantitative analysis by flow cytometry of TfR in a cancer cell line af ter an anticancer drug treatment. TfR was found in the parabasal and b asal layers of the normal epithelium, but rarely in benign tumors. Gen erally, in the malignant tumors, the poor prognostic cases showed stro ng staining regardless of the differentiation of the tumor. In the flo w cytometric analysis, the amount of TfR decreased according to the re duction of the proliferative ability of cancer cells. These results su ggest that TfR expression may be useful as a prognostic marker.