title: Prevalence of p53, bcl-2, and Ki-67 immunoreactivity and of apoptosis in normal oral epithelium and in premalignant and malignant lesions of the oral cavity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Loss of normal p53 is correlated to the progression of several preneoplastic lesions to neoplasms, and overexpression of bcl-2 determines an alteration of programmed cell death. There is an increased awareness of the importance of apoptosis in cancerogenesis, and a strong correlation of Ki-67 with high tumor grade has been reported.
  
  
  METHODS
  The aim of our study was to investigate immunohistochemically the expression and relationship of p53, bcl-2, MIB-1, and the apoptotic index (AI) in normal oral epithelium, leukoplakia, dysplasia, and oral squamous cell carcinoma.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A strong correlation was found between p53 overexpression and cell proliferation (MIB-1) and the AI. An inverse relationship was found between bcl-2 expression and MIB-1 and AI. A significant inverse relationship was found between p53 and bcl-2. A good positive correlation was present between AI and MIB-1 expression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Apoptosis could be important to help to understand oral carcinogenesis.
authors: Oral Medicine and Pathology, Dental School, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy. apiattelli@unich.it
authors: Adriano
authors: A
authors: Piattelli
authors: Corrado
authors: C
authors: Rubini
authors: Massimiliano
authors: M
authors: Fioroni
authors: Giovanna
authors: G
authors: Iezzi
authors: Alfredo
authors: A
authors: Santinelli
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004848:Epithelium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007972:Leukoplakia, Oral / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000378:metabolism; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53