Metallothionein expression in mobile tongue squamous cell carcinoma: associations with clinicopathological parameters and patient survival.
OBJECTIVE
Metallothionein (MT) has been implicated in several aspects of cancer pathobiology, such as differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis and invasion. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical significance of MT expression in mobile tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).


RESULTS
MT protein expression was assessed immunohistochemically on 49 mobile tongue SCC specimens, and was analysed in relation to clinicopathological characteristics, and overall and disease-free patient survival. All of the examined mobile tongue SCC cases showed MT positivity in tumour cells; however, neither MT overexpression nor staining intensity was significantly associated with clinicopathological parameters. MT cellular distribution was significantly associated with histopathological grade of differentiation and depth of invasion (P = 0.0188 and P = 0.0484, respectively). MT staining intensity was identified as a significant predictor of overall patient survival at both univariate (P = 0.0377) and multivariate (P = 0.0472) levels. Twenty-seven (55.10%) of the examined SCC cases showed MT positivity in squamous tongue epithelium adjacent to the tumour, the MT positivity being correlated with depth of invasion (P = 0.0281), vascular invasion (P = 0.0194), and the existence of lymph node metastases (P = 0.0194).


CONCLUSIONS
MT may be implicated in the development and progression of mobile tongue SCC and could be considered as a useful clinical marker for patient management and prognosis.
Department of Pathology, Head and Neck Surgery, Institut Curie, Paris, France. theocharis@ath.forthnet.gr
Stamatios
S
Theocharis
Jerzy
J
Klijanienko
Constantinos
C
Giaginis
Jose
J
Rodriguez
Thomas
T
Jouffroy
Angelique
A
Girod
Daniel
D
Point
Gerasimos
G
Tsourouflis
Xavier
X
Sastre-Garau
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D008668:Metallothionein