Chaiyarit Ponlatham, Klanrit Poramaporn, Photipakdee Pensri, Subarnbhesaj Ajiravudh, Giraud Andrew S
Department of Oral Diagnosis, Faculty of Dentistry, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand.
Research group of chronic inflammatory oral diseases and systemic diseases associated with oral health, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand.
Clin Oral Investig. 2014 May;18(4):1305-1312. doi: 10.1007/s00784-013-1094-0.
Very little is known about the role of trefoil factors (TFFs) in salivary gland tumors, and TFF immunoexpression has never been investigated in such tumors. The aim of this study was to evaluate TFF immunoexpression in benign and malignant salivary gland tumors.
Benign (n = 25) and malignant (n = 25) salivary gland tumor specimens were included in this study, using mucocele (n = 25) specimens as a control group. Immunohistochemical staining was performed to evaluate the expression of TFFs (TFF1, TFF2, and TFF3) by semiquantitative means.
Expression of TFF1, TFF2, and TFF3 was significantly increased in benign (p = 0.001, p = 0.005, p < 0.001, respectively) and malignant (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively) groups as compared with the control group. Patterns of co-expression between TFF1/TFF2, TFF2/TFF3, and TFF1/TFF3 were different among the three groups.
The present study provided new information showing that all TFFs were significantly increased in benign and malignant salivary gland tumors, and overexpression of TFFs could be associated with neoplastic transformation in salivary gland tissues.
Overexpression of TFFs may be useful as biomarkers in terms of differential diagnosis between salivary gland tumors and other oral neoplasms for which clinical manifestations are indistinguishable.
关于三叶因子（TFFs）在涎腺肿瘤中的作用，人们了解甚少，且从未对这类肿瘤中的TFF免疫表达进行过研究。本研究的目的是评估TFF在涎腺良恶性肿瘤中的免疫表达。
本研究纳入了良性（n = 25）和恶性（n = 25）涎腺肿瘤标本，并以黏液囊肿（n = 25）标本作为对照组。采用免疫组织化学染色，通过半定量方法评估TFFs（TFF1、TFF2和TFF3）的表达。
与对照组相比，TFF1、TFF2和TFF3在良性组（分别为p = 0.001、p = 0.005、p < 0.001）和恶性组（分别为p < 0.001、p < 0.001、p < 0.001）中的表达均显著增加。TFF1/TFF2、TFF2/TFF3和TFF1/TFF3的共表达模式在三组之间有所不同。
本研究提供了新的信息，表明所有TFFs在涎腺良恶性肿瘤中均显著增加，且TFFs的过表达可能与涎腺组织中的肿瘤转化有关。
就涎腺肿瘤与临床表现难以区分的其他口腔肿瘤的鉴别诊断而言，TFFs的过表达可能作为生物标志物具有一定价值。
