Overexpression and clinicopathological significance of homeobox gene Quox-1 in oral squamous cell carcinoma.
The expression and clinicopathological significance of Quox-1 gene was studied in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Immunocytochemistry and western blot analysis were used to examine the different expressions of Quox-1 protein in 114 OSCC specimens, 34 oral epithelial dysplasia specimens, and 16 normal oral mucosa specimens. RT-PCR and virtual Northern Blot were also used to examine the expression of Quox-1 mRNA. It was found that Quox-1 was not expressed in normal epithelium. However, as dysplastic lesions progressed Quox-1 expression increased (p < 0.01), and Quox-1 expression was not significantly different between severe dysplasia and highly differentiated OSCCs (p > 0.05). As the degree of differentiation decreased, Quox-1 positivity increased in OSCC (p < 0.01), and the rate of Quox-1 (81.58%) positivity in OSCC was higher than that in normal oral mucosa (p < 0.01). Our findings imply that the positive expression of Quox-1 is correlated with the histological classification of OSCCs. Thus, the expression of Quox-1 in OSCC may serve as a significant predicting factor of proliferative status and malignant degree, and it may also be a biological detection marker of oral mucosas initial cancer and of OSCC.
Zhu
Fan
F
College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, People's Republic of China. zhu-fan@sohu.com
Li
Jian
J
Li
Wen-Xin
WX
Liu
Zhong-Chun
ZC
Long
Xing
X
D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D011230:Precancerous Conditions; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic
D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C484061:Quox-1 protein, human