The clinical significance of CDK1 expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Objectives: To evaluate the clinical significance of cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) in 77 oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) using immunohistochemical methods. Study Design: Immunohistochemical expression of CDK1 was compared with various clinicopathological features in 77 OSCC and 60 controlled epithelia adjacent to the tumours. In addition, correlation of CDK1 expression and prognostic and the 5-year accumulative survival rate of OSCC were investigated. Results: The CDK1 protein was expressed in 52 cases of 77 tumor tissues (67.5%), compared with 21 cases of 60 controlled (35.0%). The expression of CDK1 was significantly correlated with the histological grade of OSCC (P<0.05). The CDK1 protein was over-expressed in recurrent tumors or in those with lymph node metastasis. Statistical analysis showed a significant reduction in the 5-year accumulative survival rate in CDK1 positive cases compared with CDK1 negative cases (P<0.05). Namely, the CDK1 positive patients had poor prognosis. Conclusions: The expression of CDK1 might serve as malignant degree and prognostic markers for the survival of OSCC. Key words:Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), immunohistochemistry, cell proliferation.