[Synergism of c-myc and p16 in oral squamous cell carcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
The study on the protein expression of c-myc and p16 in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has been reported, and a few researches involved in their gene amplification and mRNA expression in OSCC, however, the synergism of c-myc and p16 in OSCC in multiple levels is still unclear. This study aims to probe the synergism of c-myc and p16 in OSCC in gene amplification, mRNA expression, and protein expression levels.


METHODS
The gene amplification, expression of mRNA, and protein of c-myc and p16 in 30 cases of OSCC were determined by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical techniques.


RESULTS
The amplification rate of c-myc was 63.3%, but no amplification of p16 was found in OSCC. The mRNA expression rates of c-myc and p16 were 83.3% and 93.3%, and their protein expression rates were 60.0% and 86.7%, respectively. The correlation analysis showed that there was significant correlativity between p16 and c-myc both in mRNA expression (r=0.676 5, P=4.055 6E-05) and in protein expression (r=0.564 2, P=0.001 2).


CONCLUSIONS
The gene amplification and overexpression of c-myc plays an important role in the tumorigenesis and development of OSCC. There is certain internal relationship between p16 and c-myc expression in OSCC.
Liu
Nai-Guo
NG
Department of Biology,Binzhou Medical College, Binzhou, Shandong, PR China. lng6@sina.com
Shan
Chang-Min
CM
Wu
Shu-Hua
SH
Lu
Zeng-Hua
ZH
Kang
Guo-Ying
GY
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019941:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16 / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016259:Genes, myc; D019942:Genes, p16; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics
D019941:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; D012333:RNA, Messenger