title: Oral leiomyosarcoma: review of the literature and report of two cases with assessment of the prognostic and diagnostic significance of immunohistochemical and molecular markers.
abstract: Leiomyosarcoma of the oral cavity is a very rare tumor that is associated with aggressive clinical behavior and low survival. In this paper, we report two new cases of leiomyosarcoma affecting the mandibular gingiva and mandible of a 35-year-old male and the mandible of a 51-year-old female. Given the difficulty in the histopathologic discrimination between benign and malignant smooth muscle tumors and the absence of reliable histologic parameters for prognostication of leiomyosarcomas, we evaluated the diagnostic and prognostic value of various immunohistochemical and molecular markers. By means of immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time PCR analysis, we detected protein expression of PCNA, bcl-2, CDK4, p53 and MDM2 in both our cases and MDM2 amplification in our second case. The literature, pertinent to oral leiomyosarcoma and to molecular analysis of smooth muscle tumors, is reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Dental School, University of Maryland, Baltimore 666 W. Baltimore Street, Room 4-C-02, Baltimore, MD 21201-1586, USA. nin001@dental.umaryland.edu
authors.forename: Nikolaos G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Nikitakis
authors.forename: Marcio A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Jonathan S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: Remy H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Blanchaert
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Ord
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sauk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005887:Gingival Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007890:Leiomyosarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008339:Mandibular Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor