Expression of the FUT2 gene and CD44 marker in patients with oral lesions

The aim of this work was to investigate the FUT 2 gene, the secretor status and the expression of CD44 protein in epithelial cells obtain from saliva samples from patients with oral lesions (benign, pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions, n = 94). We analyzed polymorphisms of the FUT2 gene by allele specific oligonucleotide–polymerase chain reaction. The FUT2 gene encodes the α(1,2) fucosyltransferase (Se enzyme) that regulates the expression of ABH antigens in secretions. Generally speaking, being a non-secretor has several disadvantages with regard to metabolism and immune function. In this study, we found that oral pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions were increased among individuals with non-secretor status and nonsense mutation 428G→A. Fifty-one percent of the patients with oral pre-malignant and malignant lesions were non-secretors, in contrast with the healthy population (OR = 3.44). We observed a marginal association between secretor status and these lesions. Our study suggests that the lack of wild type FUT2 gene and a non-secretor status appear to be an associated risk marker for the development of oral cancer in patients with oral lesions.

One of the genes involved in tumour processes is CD44, which appears to be one of the most promising candidates as a cancer diagnosis marker. We investigated, using confocal microscopy, the expression of CD44 protein in epithelial cells obtained from saliva samples from patients with oral lesions. The results obtained showed fluorescence corresponding to the presence of CD44 protein in samples from patients diagnosed with cancer and pre-cancer. These findings indicate that overexpression of CD44 molecule analyzed could be considered as a marker of risk in individuals with oral lesions.