title: [Expression and significance of cytokeratin 13 gene in oral squamous cell carcinoma].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the expression and its significance of cytokeratin 13 gene in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Differential CK13 gene expression between 30 cases of paired normal and cancerous tissues were detected by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR), and immunohistochemistry was conducted using monoclonal antibody against CK13 in them. The data were analyzed with SAS6.12 software for Fisher's exact test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RT-PCR results demonstrated that CK13 gene mRNA was upregulated in 27 cases of normal tissues than in paired cancerous samples, by 4.2-fold in total; and immunostain results revealed that expression of CK13 protein between normal oral squamous cell and OSCC, high differentiated OSCC and poor differentiated ones were significantly decreased (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CK13 gene might play an important role in OSCC carcinogenesis and be regulated at post-transcriptional levels. Further research will contribute to confirm its role and mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ninth People's Hospital, School of Stomatology, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai 200011, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-zhi
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.forename: Wan-tao
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chen-ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D053535:Keratin-13 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D053535:Keratin-13