title: ALDH1 and podoplanin expression patterns predict the risk of malignant transformation in oral leukoplakia.
abstract: Oral leukoplakia (OL) is a clinically diagnosed preneoplastic lesion of the oral cavity with an increased oral cancer risk. However, the risk of malignant transformation is still difficult to assess. The objective of the present study was to examine the expression patterns of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) and podoplanin in OL, and to determine their roles in predicting oral cancer development. In the present study, the expression patterns of ALDH1 and podoplanin were determined in samples from 79 patients with OL. The association between protein expression and clinicopathological parameters, including oral cancer-free survival, was analyzed during a mean follow-up period of 3.4 years. Expression of ALDH1 and podoplanin was observed in 61 and 67% patients, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that the expression of the proteins was correlated with the risk of progression to oral cancer. Multivariate analysis revealed that expression of ALDH1 and podoplanin was associated with 3.02- and 2.62-fold increased risk of malignant transformation, respectively. The malignant transformation risk of OL was considerably higher in cases with expression of both proteins. Point-prevalence analysis revealed that 66% of patients with co-expression of ALDH1 and podoplanin developed oral cancer. Taken together, our data indicate that ALDH1 and podoplanin expression patterns in OL are associated with oral cancer development, suggesting that ALDH1 and podoplanin may be useful biomarkers to identify OL patients with a substantially high oral cancer risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Biology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Sapporo 060-0815, Japan.
authors.forename: Umma
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Habiba
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Biology, Frontier Research Unit, Institute for Genetic Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0815, Japan.
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hida
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Biology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Sapporo 060-0815, 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 060-0815, Japan.
authors.forename: Aya Yanagawa
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Biology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Sapporo 060-0815, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumihiro
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Higashino
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo 060-0815, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoichi M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Sapporo 060-0815, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Sapporo 060-0815, 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 060-0815, Japan.
authors.forename: Masanobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shindoh
keywords: ALDH1; cancer stem cell; malignant transformation; oral leukoplakia; podoplanin