Low p27Kip1 expression is associated with poor prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
p27Kip1 is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor which regulates the progression of cells from the G1-into the S-phase in a cell cycle. Loss of p27Kip1 is associated with disease progression and an unfavorable outcome in several malignancies. The purpose of this study was to determine whether p27Kip1 expression can be a useful prognostic factor in oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients.


METHODS
p27Kip1 expression was investigated by immunohistochemistry in tissue samples from 81 patients with oral SCC. The associations between p27Kip1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics and patient survival were also analyzed.


RESULTS
Significant associations were found between p27Kip1 expression and histological grade (p = 0.010), therapeutic effect (p = 0.004) and patient outcome (p = 0.005). The 5-year survival rates of p27Kip1 high- and low-expression tumours were 80.4% and 56.7%, respectively, this difference being significant (p = 0.009) by log-rank test. Multivariate analysis revealed that reduced term survival was related to low levels of p27Kip1 expression (p = 0.008) and advanced stage (stages III and IV) (p = 0.003).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that reduction of p27Kip1 plays an important role in the progression of oral SCC and is considered to be a useful prognostic factor in oral SCC patients.
Harada
Koji
K
Second Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Tokushima, School of Dentistry, 3-18-15 Kuramoto-cho, Tokushima 770-8504, Japan. harako@dent.tokushima-u.ac.jp
Supriatno
Yoshida
Hideo
H
Sato
Mitsunobu
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*
D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; D050760:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27