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.
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.
Piattelli
Adriano
A
Oral Medicine and Pathology, Dental School, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy. apiattelli@unich.it
Rubini
Corrado
C
Fioroni
Massimiliano
M
Iezzi
Giovanna
G
Santinelli
Alfredo
A
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*
D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53