Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of breast cancer metastasis suppressor 1(BRMS1)protein in supra-glottic cancer and to evaluate its clinical significance. Methods The expression of BRMS1 protein was determined by using the immunohistochemical method in 60 cases of paraffin-embeded supraglottic cancer tissues and their surrounding laryngeal normal mucosa tissues(LNT). Results The expression of BRMS1 protein was positive in 35.0%(21/60) cases of carcinoma and 100%(60/60) in LNT， and it was lower in supra-glottic cancer than in normal mucosa, also it was significantly different between supra-glottic cancer tissues and the LNT(P＜0.05). The expression of BRMS1 protein in supra-glottic carcinoma was related to the histological grade(P＜0.05), that in a high cell differentiation was 43.6% (17/39) and in a moderate and a low cell differentiation was 19.0%（4/21）, and it was related to the clinical stage that in stage Ⅱ was 72.7%（8/11）and in stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ was 26.5%（13/49）, also it was related to cervical lymphatic metastasis(P＜0.05), that with cervical lymphatic metastasis was 13.7% (5/38) and without cervical lymphatic metastasis was 72.7%（16/22）. The 3 and 5-year survival was not significantly different between the positive and the negative groups. Conclusion Expression of BRMS1 protein in supra-glottic cancer is lower than that in normal mucosa. The decrease of BRMS1 protein expression may be related to the clinical stage, low differentiation and cervical lymph node metastasis of supra-glottic cancer.

Key words: BRMS1 protein, Laryngeal neoplasms, Supraglottic cancers