Sanguansin Sirima, Kosanwat Theerachai, Juengsomjit Rachai, Poomsawat Sopee
Department of Oral Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Faculty of Dentistry, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Int J Dent. 2021 Nov 22;2021:4089549. doi: 10.1155/2021/4089549. eCollection 2021.
Little is known about the role of cytokeratin 17 (CK17) during oral carcinogenesis. CK17 expression in oral leukoplakia (OL), the most encountered oral potentially malignant disorders and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), remains very limited. To determine the role of CK17 during oral carcinogenesis and its potential diagnostic marker in oral premalignant and malignant lesions, this study evaluated CK17 expression in OL without dysplasia, OL with dysplasia, and OSCC. CK17 expression in these tissues was compared with those of normal oral mucosa (NOM). Additionally, the relationship between CK17 expression and clinicopathologic factors of OSCC was investigated.
CK17 expression was evaluated in 186 samples consisting of 12 NOM, 33 OL without dysplasia, 58 OL with dysplasia, and 83 OSCC using immunohistochemistry. The proportion of positively immunostained cells was evaluated and scored.
CK17 was expressed in 8.3%, 54.5%, 74.1%, and 90.4% of NOM, OL without dysplasia, OL with dysplasia, and OSCC, respectively. NOM had a significantly lower CK17 score than OL with dysplasia (=0.0003) and OSCC ( < 0.0001). A significant association between CK17 expression and histopathologic differentiation of OSCC was found. Tumors with well differentiation had high CK17 expression compared with those of moderate and poor differentiation.
CK17 was overexpressed in OL with dysplasia and OSCC, suggesting that CK17 plays a pivotal role in the development of premalignant lesions and OSCC. Of clinical significance, CK17 may be a good diagnostic marker for oral premalignant lesions and OSCC. Additionally, CK17 could be used as an objective tool to classify histopathologic grade in OSCC. The findings that CK17 expression is high in OSCC but low in NOM imply that CK17 may serve as a potential therapeutic target for OSCC.
关于细胞角蛋白17（CK17）在口腔癌发生过程中的作用知之甚少。CK17在口腔白斑（OL）、最常见的口腔潜在恶性疾病以及口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）中的表达仍然非常有限。为了确定CK17在口腔癌发生过程中的作用及其在口腔癌前病变和恶性病变中的潜在诊断标志物，本研究评估了CK17在无发育异常的OL、有发育异常的OL以及OSCC中的表达情况。将这些组织中CK17的表达与正常口腔黏膜（NOM）的表达进行了比较。此外，还研究了CK17表达与OSCC临床病理因素之间的关系。
采用免疫组织化学方法评估了186个样本中CK17的表达情况，这些样本包括12例NOM、33例无发育异常的OL、58例有发育异常的OL以及83例OSCC。对免疫染色阳性细胞的比例进行了评估和评分。
CK17在NOM、无发育异常的OL、有发育异常的OL以及OSCC中的表达率分别为8.3%、54.5%、74.1%和90.4%。NOM的CK17评分显著低于有发育异常的OL（=0.0003）和OSCC（<0.0001）。发现CK17表达与OSCC的组织病理学分化之间存在显著关联。与中分化和低分化肿瘤相比，高分化肿瘤的CK17表达较高。
CK17在有发育异常的OL和OSCC中过表达，表明CK17在癌前病变和OSCC的发展中起关键作用。具有临床意义的是，CK17可能是口腔癌前病变和OSCC的良好诊断标志物。此外，CK17可作为一种客观工具来对OSCC的组织病理学分级进行分类。CK17在OSCC中表达高而在NOM中表达低的发现意味着CK17可能作为OSCC的潜在治疗靶点。
