Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
3172442 Revista Clínica de Periodoncia, Implantología y Rehabilitación Oral 2011 4 Pages PDF
Abstract

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess epithelial expression of E-cadherin and c-Met in normal lip, in actinic cheilitis and lip squamous cell carcinoma.Study DesignBiopsies of normal lip vermillion (NL, n=18), actinic cheilitis (AC, n=37), and lip SCC (n=22) were processed for E-cadherin and c-Met immunodetection. Epithelial and tumor cell expression was scored for each sample considering staining intensity and percentage.ResultsE-cadherin expression was significantly reduced in AC and lip SCC as compared to normal lip (P<0.05), with a significant reduction in lip SCC as compared to AC (P=0.003). Expression of c-Met was significantly higher in AC and lip SCC as compared to NL (P<0.05), with a significant increase in lip SCC as compared to AC (P<0.0001).ConclusionThe results showed that epithelial E-cadherin expression is reduced and c-Met expression is increased as lip carcinogenesis progresses, suggesting that these proteins may be useful markers of malignant transformation.

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