nm23 protein expression in metastatic and non-metastatic tongue squamous cell carcinoma

SummaryOral squamous cells carcinoma (OSCC) shows unfavorable prognosis due to its invasion potential around the neighboring tissues and the elevated incidence of metastasis.Aimthe present paper aims at analyzing the immunohistochemical expression of the nm23 protein in metastatic and non-metastatic SCCs of tongue.Methodsthe immuno-expression to the nm23-hl protein was diagnosed in 35 tongue SCC (15 of which exhibiting metastasis). Nm23-hl immuno-scores were assigned as follow: score 0 = absent, 1 = focal and 2 = diffuse expression.ResultsThe Fisher's exact test was performed and there was no statistical difference between the nm23-hl immuno-scores and the tongue SCCs studied cases (p=0.365), although 66.7% of metastatic cases presented negative nm23-hl expression.ConclusionsProtein nm23 was not associated with a positiveness for tongue SCC without metastasis. Thus, several others factors inherent to host and malignancy can be associated with the mechanisms that suppress the metastatic process in this disease.