title: Squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue: the prevalence and prognostic roles of p53, Bcl-2, c-erbB-2 and apoptotic rate as related to clinical and pathological characteristics in a retrospective study.
abstract: In the current study, we examined the clinical characteristics and survival probability rates of 116 patients treated for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue. In 55 randomly selected patients these data were correlated with the immunohistological analysis of the tumor and apoptosis-related markers, p53, Bcl-2, c-erbB-2 (Her-2/neu), and to the apoptosis rate assessment by the terminal dUTP nick-end-labeling (TUNEL) method. The overall 5-year survival probability was 55%, which might be the result of the low incidence of smoking and/or alcohol consumption among the patients (21%), the early diagnosis (65% at Stages I-II) and the low histological grades (91% good-moderate). Radiotherapeutic or surgical treatment of the neck did not alter the survival probability achieved by local surgery for Stage I patients, but significantly improved survival for Stage II patients. Independent tumor-related variables which significantly worsened the probability of survival were found. Concomitant non-oral cancer was found to be a poor variable for prognosis prediction. Positive staining of p53, TUNEL (apoptosis rate), c-erbB-2 and Bcl-2 was found in 60, 48, 18 and 15% of the lesions, respectively (P<0.0001). The possible biological significance of these markers in tongue SCC is discussed in relation to the current literature, and an independent role for TUNEL and p53 is suggested.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. nagler@tx.technion.tc.il
authors.forename: Rafael M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Nagler
authors.forename: Hedviga
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kerner
authors.forename: Dov
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Laufer
authors.forename: Shoshana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ben-Eliezer
authors.forename: Ira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Minkov
authors.forename: Ofer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ben-Itzhak
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017209:Apoptosis; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D016158:Genes, p53; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53