Prognostic significance of CD44v6 and nm23 protein immunoexpression in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

In several tumours expression of CD44 and nm23 protein has been linked to tumour progression and metastasis. The aim of this study was to determine if there is any relationship between CD44v6 and nm23 protein immunoreactivity in squamous cancer cells and prognosis in patients with laryngeal carcinoma. The samples of human larynx cancer from patients with lymph node metastases and without lymph node involvement were analysed for CD44v6 and nm23 protein expression by immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibodies. There was no significant difference in CD44v6 immunoexpression in cancer cells in patients with and without metastases. The statistical analysis did not reveal difference in survival time between patients with high and low CD44v6 immunoreactivity. The expression of nm23 protein in laryngeal cancer in patients with lymph node metastases was significantly decreased in comparison with patients without metastases. Analysis of survival revealed that patients with lower expression of nm23 protein in tumour tissue had significantly shorter survival than patients with higher nm23 immunoreactivity. The results suggest that nm23 protein immunoreactivity can be useful in predicting tumour behaviour in laryngeal cancer patients and indicate a lack of association between CD44v6 immunoexpression and tumour progression in those patients.