title: Evaluation of Minichromosome Maintenance-3 (MCM3) in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The expression of minichromosome maintenance-3 (MCM3) proteins and their diagnostic value in oral mucosal dysplasia and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is not well known.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of minichromosome maintenance 3 (MCM3) as a biomarker for diagnosis of oral premalignant lesions and SCC.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, 31 oral SCC, 20 dysplastic epithelium and 20 controls were selected and immunohistochemical staining was done for MCM3. ANOVA, Tukey HSD, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare the groups and the correlation between different grades.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was increasing trend of MCM3 from control to dysplastic epithelium and from dysplastic epithelium to SCC both in suprabasal layers and in total epithelial layers. MCM3 expression was elevated with increasing the grade of dysplasia, but there was no statistically significant difference (p= 0.93). The expression was also increased in high grades of SCC compared to lower grades.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MCM3 can be used as a useful biomarker in the diagnosis of premalignant lesions and oral SCC.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, Dental School of Shahed University, Tehran, Iran;
authors.forename: Gita
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rezvani
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
authors.forename: Azadeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andisheh-Tadbir
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Pathology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
authors.forename: Mohammad Javad
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ashraf
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, School of Dentistry, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran;
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amanpour
authors.affiliation: Post Graduate Student, Dept. of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
authors.forename: Fereshteh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kamali
authors.affiliation: Post Graduate Student, Dept. of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;
authors.forename: Sorena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fardisi
keywords: Carcinoma; MCM3; Oral Epithelial Dysplasia; Oral Squamous Cell