title: Expression of podoplanin in oral premalignant and malignant lesions and its potential as a biomarker.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze and compare the expression of podoplanin in normal oral tissues, leukoplakia and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and to predict its use as a biomarker.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-two formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue samples comprising of 32 cases of leukoplakia, 50 cases of OSCCs and ten normal gingival samples. The samples were retrieved from archives and immunohistochemically analyzed using podoplanin. Appendix tissue samples were used for control purposes. The results were tabulated and statistically analyzed using ANOVA/Kruskal-Wallis test with post-hoc tests, where demographic details are compared and analyzed using Pearson Chi-square test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study results showed, absence of podoplanin expression in the epithelium of all the gingival samples (Group I). Positive podoplanin expression noticed in 19 out of 32 (59.4%) cases of leukoplakia (Group II) and 41 out of 50 (82%) cases of OSCCs (Group III). The expression of podoplanin among different groups was highly significant (P = 0.000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The podoplanin may be considered as a predictor marker in assessing malignant transformation of premalignancies and prognosis of oral malignancy. Indeed it is believed that podoplanin might play a role in tumor progression though exact mechanism is not fully elucidated. Further research is required to understand its exact pathophysiology.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College, Maduravoyal, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Logeswari
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Malathi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thamizhchelvan
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sangeetha
authors.forename: S Vijaya
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Nirmala
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000378:metabolism*; D000098853:Podoplanin
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; C117468:PDPN protein, human; D000098853:Podoplanin