Increased risk of oral cancer in diabetic animals is not associated with c-jun activation pathway.
OBJECTIVE
The expression of oncogenic protein c-jun was investigated in an experimental model of chemically induced carcinogenesis in normal and diabetic (type I) Sprague-Dawley rats.


METHODS
Thirteen diabetic and twelve normal rats developed cancer after 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide treatment, while six diabetic and six normal animals were used as controls. The biopsies were classified pathologically from oral mucosal dysplasia to moderately differentiated oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and studied immunohistochemically using monoclonal antibody against c-jun protein.


RESULTS
Higher c-jun levels were observed in non-cancerous and precancerous stages of normal rats compared with diabetic rats, while in different tumour stages, the expression of c-jun was practically identical for both groups.


CONCLUSIONS
It seems that diabetes does not affect the c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)/c-jun pathway.
Vairaktaris
Eleftherios
E
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Athens Medical School, Attikon Hospital, Athens, Greece. lvairakt@med.uoa.gr
Goutzanis
Lambros
L
Kalokerinos
Georgios
G
Vassiliou
Stavros
S
Spyridonidou
Sofia
S
Avgoustidis
Dimitris
D
Strantzias
Pashalis
P
Lazaris
Andreas
A
Papageorgiou
Georgios
G
Ragos
Vassilis
V
Yapijakis
Christos
C
Patsouris
Efstratios
E
D015112:4-Nitroquinoline-1-oxide / Q000009:adverse effects; D000818:Animals; D001706:Biopsy; D002273:Carcinogens; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / Q000235:genetics; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D048031:JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D016755:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun / Q000235:genetics*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012307:Risk Factors
D002273:Carcinogens; D016755:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun; D015112:4-Nitroquinoline-1-oxide; D048031:JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases