Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2021 Dec 1:29:e20210374.
doi: 10.1590/1678-7757-2021-0374. eCollection 2021.

Evaluation of squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1 expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (tumor cells and peritumoral T-lymphocytes) and verrucous carcinoma and comparison with normal oral mucosa

Samira Derakhshan  1 , Arvin Poosti  2 , Amirnader Emami Razavi  3 , Mohammad Amin Moosavi  4 , Nazanin Mahdavi  1 , Fereshteh Baghaei Naieni  1 , Kambiz Kamyab Hesari  5 , Amirsina Rahpeima  2
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Evaluation of squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1 expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (tumor cells and peritumoral T-lymphocytes) and verrucous carcinoma and comparison with normal oral mucosa

Samira Derakhshan et al. J Appl Oral Sci. .

Abstract

Background: Squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) is used as a prognostic marker for recurrence of squamous cell carcinoma in various sites, including head and neck. Studies suggest that its high serum levels are correlated to some clinical features, such as nodal metastasis. However, it is still unknown if high SCCA in patients with SCCA tissue expression in tumor cells are related to peripheral T-lymphocytes. Therefore, we did this study to evaluate SCCA expression in squamous cell carcinoma and verrucous carcinoma and to compare it with normal oral mucosa, also investigating the correlation between serum-based and tissue-based antigen levels.

Methodology: In this study, the immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique was used to determine the SCCA1 expression pattern in 81 specimens divided into 3 groups, including oral squamous cell carcinoma, verrucous carcinoma, and normal oral mucosa. Serum-based and tissue-based antigen levels of 20 oral squamous cell carcinoma cases were compared by the western blot assay. SCCA expression was also evaluated and compared in both tumor cells and peripheral T-lymphocytes by the immunofluorescence assay.

Results: Our results showed that the SCCA levels in SCC specimens were significantly lower than in verrucous carcinoma and normal and hyperplastic oral mucosa specimens. We found no correlation between the IHC expression of SCCA and serum levels. SCCA was well expressed in both tumor cells and peripheral T-lymphocytes.

Conclusion: Decreasing SCCA in SCC specimens suggested that SCC tumor cells may affect more than the serum levels of SCCA in some patients. In addition, expression of SCCA in peripheral T-lymphocytes showed that both tumor cells and T-lymphocytes may cause serum SCCA.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests

All authors declare to have no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Immunohistochemistry results a) Strong positive normal keratinocytes b) Strong positive epithelial cells in benign epithelial hyperplasia c) Strong positive epithelial cells in verrucous carcinoma d) Strong positive reaction in more than 50% of the tumor cell (score 3) e) Strong positive reaction in 10-50% of tumor cells (score 2) f) Strong positive reaction in less than 10% of tumor cells (score 1)
Figure 2
Figure 2. Pairwise comparison of diagnosis between SCC, VC and BH a) each node shows the average rank of diagnosis for samples b) each row tests the null hypothesis that sample 1 and sample 2 have the same distributions. Asymptomatic significance (2-sided tests) is displayed. The significance level is 0.05. Significance values have been adjusted by the Bonferroni correction for multiple tests
Figure 3
Figure 3. Western blot shows positive results for samples 2 to 10 and sample 12 (Numbers are mentioned in Table 3)
Figure 4
Figure 4. Immunofluorescence results a) Positive reaction for CD3 b) Positive reaction for SCC-antigen c) DAPI staining showed cell nuclei d) Co-expression of CD3 and SCC-antigen in more than 5% of the cells
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chi AC, Day TA, Neville BW, et al. Oral cavity and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: an update. CA Cancer J Clin. 2015;65(5):401–421. doi: 10.3322/caac.21293. - DOI - PubMed
    2. Chi AC, Day TA, Neville BW. Oral cavity and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: an update. CA Cancer J Clin. 2015;65(5):401-21. doi: 10.3322/caac.21293 - PubMed
    1. Howlander N, Noone A, Krapcho M, Miller D, Bishop K, Kosary C. SEER cancer statistics review: 1975-2014. Bethesda: National Cancer Institute; 2017.
    2. Howlander N, Noone A, Krapcho M, Miller D, Bishop K, Kosary C. SEER cancer statistics review: 1975-2014. Bethesda: National Cancer Institute; 2017.
    1. Rivera C, Venegas B. Histological and molecular aspects of oral squamous cell carcinoma (Review) Oncol Lett. 2014;8(1):7–11. doi: 10.3892/ol.2014.2103. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    2. Rivera C, Venegas B. Histological and molecular aspects of oral squamous cell carcinoma (Review). Oncol Lett. 2014;8(1):7-11. . doi: 10.3892/ol.2014.2103 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mishra A, Verma M. Cancer biomarkers: are we ready for the prime time? Cancers (Basel) 2010;2(1):190–208. doi: 10.3390/cancers2010190. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    2. Mishra A, Verma M. Cancer biomarkers: are we ready for the prime time? Cancers (Basel). 2010;2(1):190-208. doi: 10.3390/cancers2010190 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kato H, Torigoe T. Radioimmunoassay for tumor antigen of human cervical squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer. 1977;40(4):1621–1628. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197710)40:4<1621::aid-cncr2820400435>3.0.co;2-i. - DOI - PubMed
    2. Kato H, Torigoe T. Radioimmunoassay for tumor antigen of human cervical squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer. 1977;40(4):1621-8. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(197710)40:4<1621::aid-cncr2820400435>3.0.co;2-i - PubMed

Publication types