title: Nuclear BMI-1 expression in laryngeal carcinoma correlates with lymph node pathological status.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The main cause of treatment failure and death in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma is metastasis to the regional lymph nodes. The current clinical staging criteria fail to differentiate patients with occult metastasis from patients without metastasis. Identifying molecular markers of the disease might improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and development of laryngeal carcinoma and may help improve clinical staging and treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-four previously untreated patients who underwent surgical excision of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma with neck dissection were included in this study. The expression of B cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 (BMI-1) was examined immunohistochemically on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded primary tissue specimens.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nuclear expression of BMI-1 (nBMI-1) was detected in 32 of the 64 tumors (50%), cytoplasmic expression of BMI-1 (cBMI-1) was detected in 22 (34.4%), and 10 tumors (15.6%) showed no BMI-1 immunoreactivity. High nBMI-1 expression levels (≥ 10) were detected in 28 of the 32 (87.5%) nBMI-1-positive patients. Multivariate analysis including age at diagnosis, grade, tumor location, TNM status, and nBMI-1 expression showed that a high nBMI-1 expression level was an independent prognostic factor for lymph node metastasis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The expression of BMI-1 in patients with laryngeal carcinoma seems to correlate with lymph node metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy. eualle@unicz.it
authors.forename: Eugenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Allegra
authors.forename: Lidia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Puzzo
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zuccalà
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Trapasso
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vasquez
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Garozzo
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caltabiano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 / Q000032:analysis* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: C069077:BMI1 protein, human; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1