P. Pande et al., Ets-1: A plausible marker of invasive potential and lymph node metastasis tn human oral squamous cell carcinomas, J PATHOLOGY, 189(1), 1999, pp. 40-45
Citations number
33
Categorie Soggetti
Research/Laboratory Medicine & Medical Tecnology","Medical Research Diagnosis & Treatment
The proto-oncogene Ets-1 is a transcription factor known to regulate the ex
pression of a number of genes involved in extracellular matrix remodelling.
It has been postulated to play a role in angiogenesis, cell migration, and
regulation of tumour invasion. In betel- and tobacco-related oral tumourig
enesis, oral squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) having a poor prognosis often
exhibit extensive local disease with spread into regional lymph nodes. At p
resent, no tumour marker is available to predict the metastatic potential o
f oral carcinomas. To elucidate the involvement of Ets-1 in human oral tumo
urigenesis, 60 cases of oral SCC, 30 potentially malignant lesions, and 30
samples of normal oral mucosa were examined by immunohistochemistry and the
findings corroborated with immunoblotting, The relationship of Ets-1 expre
ssion with the degree of differentiation, lymph node metastasis, and tumour
stage was determined in oral SCCs. Ets-1 was not detected in the normal or
al epithelium. Among the 60 cases of oral SCC, 35 cases (58 per cent) showe
d positive staining for the Ets-1 protein in tumour cells. In potentially m
alignant lesions, 14 of 30 cases (47 per cent) showed Ets-1 immunopositivit
y, Ets-1 expression correlated significantly with tumour stage (p=0.01) and
lymph node metastasis (p=0.005). The presence of Ets-1 mRNA in oral SCCs w
as confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). T
hese findings suggest that overexpression of Ets-1 in potentially malignant
lesions may he related to angiogenesis and its expression in oral SCCs may
be one of the factors involved in tumour progression and lymph node metast
asis. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.