Chakraborty Satadruti, Suresh Turuvekere Narayan Rao, Mohiyuddin Azeem S
Pathology, Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, Kolar, IND.
Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, Kolar, IND.
Cureus. 2023 Jan 7;15(1):e33495. doi: 10.7759/cureus.33495. eCollection 2023 Jan.
Background Oral cancer is a common malignancy worldwide, with approximately 3,50,000 new cases diagnosed yearly. Out of many factors which affect the survival in patients with oral cancer, lymph node metastases are a major factor that reduces survival by 50%. Even though many biomarkers have been studied to predict lymph node metastasis, none have yet been accepted for routine use. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a vital role in extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, thus facilitating the invasive potential and the metastatic cascade of tumors. Of the different subtypes, multiple studies have demonstrated that matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) overexpression is often associated with the aggressive nature of the tumor. Therefore, this investigation is done to know the role of MMP9 in predicting lymph node metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Aim To determine the immunohistochemical expression of MMP9 in OSCC and to find its association with lymph node metastasis. Settings and design It is a laboratory-based observational study. Materials and methods One hundred five histologically proven cases of OSCC were studied. Histopathological parameters like depth of invasion, presence of lymph node metastasis, grading, and TNM staging were done according to the 8th AJCC staging criteria. Both intensity and proportion of MMP9 expression were recorded. Statistical analysis For qualitative data, the Chi-square test was used as a test of significance. The p-value (probability that the result is true) of <0.05 was considered statistically significant after assuming all the rules of statistical tests. Results A higher expression of MMP9 was observed in 56.2% of cases and the higher expression correlated with the presence of lymph node metastases (p<0.001), an advanced stage of cancer (P <0.001), and grade of the tumor (p=0.003). Conclusion A positive association between MMP9 and lymph node metastasis and pathological TNM staging demonstrates MMP9 as a potential biomarker to predict the behavior of the tumor.
口腔癌是全球常见的恶性肿瘤，每年约有35万新发病例。在影响口腔癌患者生存的诸多因素中，淋巴结转移是使生存率降低50%的主要因素。尽管已经研究了许多生物标志物来预测淋巴结转移，但尚无一种被接受用于常规临床。基质金属蛋白酶（MMPs）在细胞外基质（ECM）降解中起关键作用，从而促进肿瘤的侵袭潜能和转移级联反应。在不同亚型中，多项研究表明基质金属蛋白酶9（MMP9）的过表达常与肿瘤的侵袭性相关。因此，本研究旨在了解MMP9在预测口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）淋巴结转移中的作用。
确定MMP9在OSCC中的免疫组化表达，并找出其与淋巴结转移的相关性。
这是一项基于实验室的观察性研究。
研究了105例经组织学证实的OSCC病例。根据第8版美国癌症联合委员会（AJCC）分期标准进行组织病理学参数评估，如浸润深度、淋巴结转移情况、分级和TNM分期。记录MMP9表达的强度和比例。
对于定性数据，采用卡方检验作为显著性检验。在遵循所有统计检验规则后，p值（结果为真的概率）<0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
56.2%的病例中观察到MMP9的高表达，且高表达与淋巴结转移的存在（p<0.001）、癌症晚期（P <0.001）以及肿瘤分级（p=0.003）相关。
MMP9与淋巴结转移及病理TNM分期之间的正相关表明MMP9是预测肿瘤行为的潜在生物标志物。
