Uridine phosphorylase is a potential prognostic factor in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Uridine phosphorylase (UPase) catalyzes the reversible phosphorolysis of uridine to uracil. The expression levels and the enzymatic activity of UPase are reported to be higher in human solid tumors than in adjacent normal tissues. However, to the authors' knowledge the clinical significance of UPase expression as determined by immunohistochemical analysis has not been demonstrated in human malignancies.


METHODS
The authors prepared the antibody against UPase, examined the staining of UPase in 72 cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) with immunohistochemical analysis using the antibody, and analyzed its relation to clinical and pathologic factors.


RESULTS
UPase stained mainly within the invasive edges of tumors and macrophages. UPase-positive staining was observed in 56 of the 72 tumors (77.8%). High staining of UPase (defined as > 50% of cells in a tumor biopsy that are positive for UPase) in primary tumors frequently was associated with the presence of metastasis to lymph nodes (P = 0.007 by the Fischer exact test) and with lower overall survival (P = 0.03 by the log-rank test).


CONCLUSIONS
The high rate of UPase staining in biopsies from patients with oral SCC may be a prognostic marker for these individuals.
Department of Pathology, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Aoba, Sendai, Japan.
Hitoshi
H
Miyashita
Yuji
Y
Takebayashi
James F
JF
Eliason
Fumihiro
F
Fujimori
Yasutaka
Y
Nitta
Atsushi
A
Sato
Hidehiro
H
Morikawa
Akira
A
Ohashi
Katutoshi
K
Motegi
Manabu
M
Fukumoto
Shiro
S
Mori
Takafumi
T
Uchida
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000556:secondary; D005260:Female; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D011817:Rabbits; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015996:Survival Rate; D014543:Uridine Phosphorylase / Q000378:metabolism*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D014543:Uridine Phosphorylase; D005982:Glutathione Transferase