Bartuli F N, Luciani F, Caddeo F, Compagni S, Piva P, Ottria L, Arcuri C
Department of Periodontics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"; "S. Giovanni Calibita, Fatebenefratelli" Hospital.
Oral Implantol (Rome). 2012 Apr;5(2-3):33-41. Epub 2012 Nov 16.
OBJECTIVE.: Podoplanin is a mucin-like glycoprotein that is important in lymphangiogenesis but not in blood vessel formation. The aim of this preliminary study is to determine the role of podoplanin in the development and progression of head and neck cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS.: Podoplanin over expression was analyzed in 20 patients with oral cancer, by immunohistochemical analysis. RESULT.: Podoplanin is not expressed in normal oral epithelial cells but was found in some hyperplastic and dysplastic lesions. Podoplanin high expression was found in 9 of 20 patients and was more frequent in cancers with lymph node metastasis, particularly in oral cavity cancers. In our preliminary study, patients who showed high levels of podoplanin had a statistically greater rate of lymph node metastasis (P<0,001); patients with lymph node metastasis and high-level podoplanin showed a shorter disease-specific survival (P = 0,004) than other patients. CONCLUSION.: The results of our preliminary study have provided interesting and encouraging data. We have observed that podoplanin expression increases in the early stages of tumourigenesis and it seems to be associated with a higher risk of head and neck cancer. While in squamous cell carcinoma podoplanin expression diminishes during tumour progression. These data support a role for podoplanin expression in the initiation but not in the progression of cancer. So we can conclude that podoplanin is involved in oral oncogenesis and can be a predictor for lymph node metastasis in asymptomatic patients. Histology and podoplanin analysis can be very useful to predict the risk of development, invasion and metastatic progression of a tumour in patients with oral cancer.
血小板源性生长因子结合蛋白（Podoplanin）是一种黏蛋白样糖蛋白，在淋巴管生成中起重要作用，但在血管形成中不起作用。本初步研究的目的是确定Podoplanin在头颈部癌发生发展中的作用。
通过免疫组织化学分析，对20例口腔癌患者的Podoplanin过表达情况进行分析。
Podoplanin在正常口腔上皮细胞中不表达，但在一些增生性和发育异常性病变中可检测到。20例患者中有9例Podoplanin高表达，在有淋巴结转移的癌症中更常见，尤其是口腔癌。在我们的初步研究中，Podoplanin水平高的患者淋巴结转移率在统计学上更高（P<0.001）；有淋巴结转移且Podoplanin水平高的患者疾病特异性生存期比其他患者短（P = 0.004）。
我们初步研究的结果提供了有趣且令人鼓舞的数据。我们观察到Podoplanin表达在肿瘤发生的早期阶段增加，并且似乎与头颈部癌的较高风险相关。而在鳞状细胞癌中，Podoplanin表达在肿瘤进展过程中减少。这些数据支持Podoplanin表达在癌症起始阶段而非进展阶段起作用。因此我们可以得出结论，Podoplanin参与口腔肿瘤发生，并且可以作为无症状患者淋巴结转移的预测指标。组织学和Podoplanin分析对于预测口腔癌患者肿瘤发生、侵袭和转移进展的风险非常有用。
