title: Metallothionein and p-Akt proteins in oral dysplasia and in oral squamous cell carcinoma: an immunohistochemical study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oral leukoplakia (OL) is the main potentially malignant lesion of the oral cavity, and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for more than 95% of all malignant neoplasms in the oral cavity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to verify the immunoexpression of p-Akt and Metallothionein (MT) proteins in dysplasic and neoplasic oral lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunohistochemical studies were carried out on 10 normal epithelium, 30 OL and 15 OSCC paraffin-embedded samples. Immunoperoxidase reaction for p-Akt and MT proteins was applied on the specimens, and the positivity of the reactions was calculated for 1000 epithelial cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using the ANOVA and the Tukey's post hoc statistical analyses, it was observed a significant difference in the immunoexpression for p-Akt and MT when the OSCC samples were compared with normal and dysplasic epithelial groups. In addition, the Pearson's correlation test showed a significant correlation between the proteins' expression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the data obtained, p-Akt and MT activation may play an important role in the conversion of a potentially malignant oral lesion to a malignant carcinoma since its earlier stages.
authors.affiliation: João de Barros Barreto University Hospital, Federal University of Pará, Brazil.
authors.forename: H A R
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Pontes
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: de Aquino Xavier
authors.forename: T S P
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.forename: F P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Paiva
authors.forename: F S C
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Pontes
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: dos Santos Pinto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007972:Leukoplakia, Oral / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism*; D012016:Reference Values; D015290:Second Messenger Systems / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D008668:Metallothionein; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt