Angadi Punnya V, Krishnapillai Rekha
Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, KLEVK Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Belgaum, 590010, Karnataka, India.
Head Neck Pathol. 2012 Sep;6(3):314-21. doi: 10.1007/s12105-012-0341-z. Epub 2012 Mar 6.
Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a chronic debilitating disease and a premalignant condition of the oral cavity characterized by generalized submucosal fibrosis. Despite its precancerous nature, the molecular biology regarding its malignant potential has not been extensively studied. PTEN, a known tumor suppressor gene is mutated in a majority of human cancers and has also been implicated in several fibrotic disorders. The present study aims to evaluate the expression of PTEN in OSMF and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and correlate it with the pathogenesis and malignant transformation of OSMF. 60 cases total of OSMF (30) and OSCC (30) were subjected to immunohistochemistry using PTEN antibody. Ten normal oral mucosa (NOM) specimens were also stained as controls. There was progressive loss of PTEN expression from normal mucosa to OSMF and OSCC (p ≤ 0.001). Significant differences were observed for PTEN expression between NOM and OSMF, OSMF and OSCC as well as NOM and OSCC. Though a progressive loss of PTEN was noticed between early OSMF and advanced OSMF, the variation did not reach statistical significance (p ≥ 0.001). Data suggest that there is a significant loss of PTEN expression in OSMF as compared to normal oral mucosa and that this trend increased from OSMF to OSCC. Thus, alteration of PTEN is likely an important molecular event in OSMF pathogenesis and oral carcinogenesis.
口腔黏膜下纤维化（OSMF）是一种慢性致残性疾病，是口腔的一种癌前病变，其特征为广泛性黏膜下纤维化。尽管它具有癌前性质，但其恶性潜能的分子生物学尚未得到广泛研究。PTEN是一种已知的肿瘤抑制基因，在大多数人类癌症中发生突变，并且也与几种纤维化疾病有关。本研究旨在评估PTEN在OSMF和口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）中的表达，并将其与OSMF的发病机制和恶性转化相关联。总共60例OSMF（30例）和OSCC（30例）病例使用PTEN抗体进行免疫组织化学检测。另外10例正常口腔黏膜（NOM）标本也进行染色作为对照。从正常黏膜到OSMF和OSCC，PTEN表达逐渐丧失（p≤0.001）。在NOM与OSMF、OSMF与OSCC以及NOM与OSCC之间观察到PTEN表达存在显著差异。尽管在早期OSMF和晚期OSMF之间注意到PTEN有逐渐丧失的情况，但这种差异未达到统计学意义（p≥0.001）。数据表明，与正常口腔黏膜相比，OSMF中PTEN表达显著丧失，并且这种趋势从OSMF到OSCC有所增加。因此，PTEN的改变可能是OSMF发病机制和口腔癌发生中的一个重要分子事件。
