Abstract:

Objective  To find out the association between expression of the KAI1 gene and the metastasis of laryngeal carcinoma by determining expression of the KAI1 protein in human laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas and metastasis lymph nodes, and attempt. Methods  Using the immunohistochemical S-P technique, we studied the expression of KAI1 in 40 laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma specimens, 13 metastasis lymph node specimens and 30 carcinoma side normal tissue specimens with monoclonal antibody of KAI1. Correlations of expression of the KAI1 gene to clinicopathologic factors were statistically analyzed. Results  The KAI1-positive rates in carcinoma side normal tissues, laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and metastasis lymph nodes were 93.33%(28/30) , 62.5%（25/40）and 30.77%（4/13）respectively, and the differences were statistically significant (P＜0.05). Expression of the KAI1 gene was related to the clinical stage (P＜0.05). There was no relationship of the expression of the KAI1 gene to the patients′ gender, the patients′ age, the primary site of tumor, pathological grades and lymphatic metastasis(P＞0.05). Conclusion  There is a significant reduce in the expression of the KAI1 gene in metastasis lymph nodes compared with laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas. The KAI1 gene may play a role in the metastasis of laryngeal carcinomas.

Key words: Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma；KAI1 gene；Lymph nodes；Immunohistochemistry