Abstract:

Objective    To investigate expressions of Notch-1，NF-kB and β-catenin in oral squamous cell carcinoma, and explore their  associations with the clinicopathological features. Methods    Expressions of Notch-1，NF-kB and β-catenin were analyzed in 58 oral squamous cell carcinoma samples and 30 normal tissues adjacent to the carcinomas by immunohistochemistry. Results    a) Notch-1 and NF-kB protein were up-regulated in most oral squamous cell carcinoma samples but not in normal tissues. The difference of weighted scores between these two groups was significant (P<0.01). Although there were no correlations between the expressions of Notch1，NFkB protein and some tumor parameters, such as age, gender, tumor site and histological grade,  expressions of Notch-1，NF-kB protein were significantly associated with clinical staging (P<0.01) and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). b) Higher abnormalβ-catenin expression was noted in most oral squamous cell carcinoma samples than in normal tissues. The difference of weighted scores between these two group was also significant (P<0.01). There were no correlations between expressions of abnormalβcatenin expression and some tumor parameters, such as age, gender, tumor site and histological grade, while expression of abnormalβ-catenin was significantly associated with clinical staging (P<0.01) and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). c) In oral squamous carcinoma tissues, there were correlation between expression of Notch-1 and NF-kB, and there were also correlation between expression of Notch-1 and ectopic expression of β-catenin (P<0.05)． But there was no correlation between expression of NF-kB and ectopic expression of β-catenin (P>0.05). Conclusions    Over-expression of Notch-1， NF-kB or ectopic expression of β-catenin expression are common in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Expression of Notch-1 and NF-kB or ectopic expression of β-catenin expression are significantly correlated with tumor staging and lymph node metastasis. Expression of Notch-1 were correlatied with expression of  NF-kB and ectopic expression of β-catenin, but there was no correlation between expression of NF-kB and ectopic expression of β-catenin.

Key words: Oral squamous cell carcinoma； Notch-1；NF-kB；β-catenin; Expression