title: HuR and podoplanin expression is associated with a high risk of malignant transformation in patients with oral preneoplastic lesions.
abstract: The risk of malignant transformation in oral preneoplastic lesions (OPLs) is challenging to assess. The objective of the present study was to determine the expression of ELAV like RNA binding protein 1 (HuR) and podoplanin in OPLs, and to evaluate the use of each protein as biomarkers for the risk assessment of malignant transformations. Immunohistochemistry for HuR and podoplanin was performed on the tissues of 51 patients with OPL, including cases of low grade dysplasia (LGD) and high grade dysplasia (HGD). The association between the protein expression patterns and clinicopathological parameters, including oral cancer free survival (OCFS) time, was analyzed during the follow-up period. HuR and podoplanin expression was observed in 28 (55%) and 36 (71%) of 51 patients, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the expression of HuR and podoplanin was associated with the risk of progression to oral cancer (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that HuR and podoplanin expression was associated with a 2.93-fold (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.98-10.34; P=0.055) and 2.06-fold (95% CI, 0.55-8.01; P=0.283) increase in risk of malignant transformation, respectively. The risk of OPL malignant transformation was considerably increased with the coexpression of HuR and podoplanin compared with the histological grading (95% CI, 1.64-23.59; P=0.005). The results of the present study demonstrated that the expression of HuR and podoplanin associates with malignant transformation and suggests that the proteins may be used as biomarkers to identify OPL patients with an increased risk of cancer development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Biology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8586, Japan.
authors.forename: Umma
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Habiba
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Biology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8586, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Biology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8586, Japan.
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yanagawa-Matsuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Biology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8586, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumihiro
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Higashino
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Biology, Hokkaido University Institute for Genetic Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0815, Japan.
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hida
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8586, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Totsuka
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Biology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8586, Japan.
authors.forename: Masanobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shindoh
keywords: HuR; malignant transformation; oral preneoplastic lesion; podoplanin