BACKGROUND

Oral leukoplakia is the most common oral mucosal disease. A proportion of such cases can progress to oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The mechanism of oral leukoplakia malignant transformation is still unclear. In this study, we analyzed the expression of parathyroid hormone-like hormone () in oral leukoplakia and the effect on prognosis, so as to find reliable molecular markers that can predict oral leukoplakia malignant transformation.

METHODS

We measured PTHrP which is coded by in oral leukoplakia tissues of 79 cases (30 cases progressed to OSCC and 49 did not) and analyzed the clinical outcomes. Then, expression was reduced using lentivirus-mediated small hairpin RNA (shRNA) interference to determine the biological role of in DOK cells.

RESULTS

PTHrP was found to be highly expressed in 38% of tissues of oral leukoplakia. There was weak or no PTHrP expression in 25 patients, moderate expression in 24 patients, and strong in 30 patients with oral leukoplakia. The expression level was associated with the degree of atypical hyperplasia and poor prognosis. The cell proliferation, invasion, migration, cell cloning, and cell cycle were affected after reducing expression.

CONCLUSION

Our data suggest that either or PTHrP plays a key role in the malignant transformation of oral leukoplakia and might be a reliable biomarker for predicting the carcinogenesis of oral leukoplakia.