RUNX3Expression Upregulated In Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objectives:To investigate the presence of RUNX3protein/gene in normal and Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) samples and determine their expression levels. Secondly to compare the expression levels of RUNX3in oral squamous cell carcinoma samples with patients pathological and clinical parameters so that we can draw conclusions on RUNX3’s potential ability as an oncologic prognostic marker.Methods:We investigated the expression level of RUNX3in64oral squamous cell carcinoma samples and in32adjacent normal oral mucosa tissues from different locations in the oral cavity, namely; tongue, palate, cheek, gingiva and floor of the mouth using immunohistochemistry. Clinicopathological characteristics such as age, gender, clinical stage, tumor size, lymph node involvement, tumor size and social behavior were compared with RUNX3expression.Results:We found that RUNX3expression was upregulated in oral squamous cell carcinoma on multiple locations in the oral cavity. There was negligible RUNX3expression detected in adjacent normal oral mucosa. We also found a strong relationship between RUNX3expression and tumor location/site(p=0.022), clinical stage(p=0.035)and tobacco smoking(p=0.036). We found through univariate analysis (Cox regression model) that RUNX3expression (p=0.014), lymph node involvement (p=0.009) and location of tumor (p<0.001) were statistically significant with bad prognosis.Conclusion:RUNX3expression is upregulated in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma, that RUNX3plays an important role in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma carcinogenesis and that it is a potential oncogene which can be used potentially as a prognostic biomarker for cancer. Further work needs to be done to clarify the expression of RUNX3in OSCC, especially that there’s conflicting results in the literature on the subject.