A Preliminary Study On Expression Of E-cadherin, Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 And Survivin In Different Prognoses Of Tougue Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background and Objective The primary tumor size in tongue carcinoma was tightly correlated with the lymph node metastasis and postoperative recurrence. The bigger the primary tumor size is, the higher possibility the lymph node metastasis and postoperative recurrence has. However, there were some cases that relatively small primary tumor size with early stage in tongue carcinoma displayed metastasis and recurrence in clinic. On the contrary, the major primary tumor size with medium and advanced tongue carcinoma showed no metastasis and recurrence. The phenomenon indicated that there were discrepancy in neoplasm invasiveness and metastasis in two different tongue carcinomas. Researches had demonstrated that factors epithelium-cadherin, matrix metalloproteinase-9, survivin were strongly correlated with neoplasm invasiveness and metastasis. The aim of this present study is to investigate the expression and significance of E-cadherin, MMP-9 and Survivin in two tongue squamous cell carcinomas (TSCC) with different prognosis.Materials and methods Selected 22 TSCC samples with pathologic biopsy verification from 1/2005 to 5/2009 in the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, without radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other biotherapy.12 tongue carcinoma samples with small primary tumor size and poor prognosis were classified as group A, and 10 tongue carcinoma samples with large primary tumor size and good prognosis as group B. All the samples were formalin fixed and paraffin-embedded. The expression level of E-cadherin, MMP-9 and Survivin were tested by immunohistochemistry in group A and B. The data were analyzed by SPSS 13.0, E-cadherin with Fisher's exact test and MMP-9, Survivin with Mann-Whitney U Test. The significance level was p value less than 0.05.Results E-cadherin was expressed on tongue carcinoma cell membrane, expression level reduction with tongue carcinoma cells.10 samples in group A and 3 samples in group B was down-regulation of expression with statistical significance (p<0.05). Positive expression levels of MMP-9 in group A (8 samples strong and intermediate-positive, 4 samples weak-positive expression) was higher than group B (5 samples intermediate-positive,3 samples weak-positive,2 samples negative expression) with statistical significance (p<0.05) and the stained particles located in the tumor cytoplasm and partial expression in stromal cells. Enhanced expression of Survivin presented in group A (9 samples strong-positive,3 samples weak-positive expression) and group B (2 samples strong-positive,5 samples weak-positive expression and 3 samples negative) with statistical significance(p<0.05).Conclusion 1. Tongue carcinoma with small primary tumor size and poor prognosis displayed the down-regulation of E-cadherin more than tongue carcinoma with large primary tumor size and good prognosis.2. Tongue carcinoma with small primary tumor size and poor prognosis displayed the up-regulation of MMP-9 more than tongue carcinoma with large primary tumor size and good prognosis.3. Tongue carcinoma with small primary tumor size and poor prognosis displayed the up-regulation of Survivin more than tongue carcinoma with large primary tumor size and good prognosis.4. E-cadherin, MMP-9 and Survivin are all expected to evaluate the prognoses of two types of tongue carcinoma as a tumor marker.