Expression of cytokeratin 13 and 17 in tongue squamous cell carcinoma and epithelial dysplasia

Objective

We have searched for the factor to diagnose malignant potential of epithelial dysplasia. Recent studies have suggested that determination of the expression of cytokeratin 13 and 17 would be useful for the early diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma. In this study, we focused on the diagnosis based on the malignant potential of epithelial dysplasia and evaluated the feasibility of combined assessment of cytokeratin 13 and 17.

Patients and methods

The expression of cytokeratin 13 and 17 observed in 8 patients with clinically diagnosed T1 or T2 tongue squamous cell carcinoma was analyzed using real-time PCR and immunohistochemical staining of resected specimens. Areas in each specimen were identified as Normal, Dysplasia and Cancer.

Results

Real-time PCR showed that the expression of cytokeratin 13 decreased beginning with Dysplasia, whereas the expression of cytokeratin 17 increased beginning with Dysplasia. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that cytokeratin 13-positive cells decreased beginning with Dysplasia, while there were almost no cytokeratin 13-positive cells in Cancer. Conversely, cytokeratin 17-positive cells increased beginning with Dysplasia, and almost all cells were cytokeratin 17-positive in Cancer. These results thus indicate that the expression of cytokeratin 13 and 17 is associated with carcinogenesis in epithelial dysplasia.

Conclusions

The findings of this study indicate that assessment of the expression of cytokeratin 13 and 17 might be useful in the diagnosis of malignant potential in epithelial dysplasia. Moreover, evaluating changes in the expression of cytokeratin 13 and 17 could be effective in evaluating surgical margins.