Expression of p27Kip1 and E-cadherin in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Indonesian Patients

Abstract

Cancer cells exhibit characteristic damage of DNA and its expression. The expression of the tumor suppressors E-cadherin and p27(Kip1) has been tested on 57 head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) of Indonesian subjects. HNSCC tumor samples including both primary and (unrelated) nodal cases were obtained from the archives of Indonesian hospitals, in accordance with acknowledged ethical requirements. Only modest correlation was found between reduced expression of E-cadherin or p27(Kip1) with increased malignancy of primary and nodal growth. The observed strong correlation regardless of malignancy between the expressed levels of E-cadherin and p27(Kip1) suggests that also in combination these would not help to better predict the outcome of HNSCC.

Keywords: E-cadherin; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; p27Kip1..

Fig. (1)

Distributions of a) the percentages of E-cadherin and p27^Kip1 positive cells; and b) patient age and malignancy scores (M-S) of all 57 tumors.

Fig. (2)

Examples of expressed tumor suppressors in HNSCC: a) E-cadherin; b) p27^Kip1.

Fig. (3)

Observed malignancy scores vs. expressed a) E-cadherin and b) p27^Kip1. The fitted regression lines are for all data in a) y = 2.606 – 0.0122·x; and b) y = 2.644 – 0.0126·x; and for primary tumors in a) y = 2.5247 – 0.0138·x; and b) y = 2.5842 – 0.0142·x.

Fig. (4)

Comparison of expressed E-cadherin and p27^Kip1 as percentages of positive cells in 57 oral SCC tumors (correlation for all data r = 0.89; fitted line y = 0.892 x + 5.44 and dashed diagonal reference line y = x for full correspondence).

Fig. (5)

Distribution of the relative deviances from the fitted regression line of Fig. (4) (all data); a) as a histogram and b) as a cumulative probability distribution estimated from ranked data (negative values below the fitted line).