nm23 protein expression in metastatic and non-metastatic tongue squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cells carcinoma (OSCC) shows unfavorable prognosis due to its invasion potential around the neighboring tissues and the elevated incidence of metastasis. AIM: the present paper aims at analyzing the immunohistochemical expression of the nm23 protein in metastatic and non-metastatic SCCs of tongue. METHODS: the immuno-expression to the nm23-hl protein was diagnosed in 35 tongue SCC (15 of which exhibiting metastasis). Nm23-hl immuno-scores were assigned as follow: score 0 = absent, 1 = focal and 2 = diffuse expression. RESULTS: The Fisher's exact test was performed and there was no statistical difference between the nm23-hl immuno-scores and the tongue SCCs studied cases (p=0.365), although 66.7% of metastatic cases presented negative nm23-hl expression. CONCLUSIONS: Protein nm23 was not associated with a positiveness for tongue SCC without metastasis. Thus, several others factors inherent to host and malignancy can be associated with the mechanisms that suppress the metastatic process in this disease.