Insulin-like growth factor II mRNA-binding protein 3 (IMP3) is strongly expressed in malignant tumors and has been associated with their aggressive behavior. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of IMP3 in a series of salivary gland tumors. The sample consisted of 9 pleomorphic adenomas (PA), 14 adenoid cystic carcinomas (ACC), and 13 mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MEC) that were investigated by immunohistochemical technique. All cases of PA and MEC were positive for IMP3 particularly in the cytoplasm. PA showed 4 cases as high expression and 6 as low expression. MEC showed 10 cases as low expression and 3 as high expression. For ACC, 4 cases were high expression, whereas 6 cases were low expression. No significant difference was observed between tumors (P>0.05, Fisher's test) when both scores of IMP3 were compared. This study showed that MEC seems to be more sensitive to IMP3 than ACC and provided an insight into this protein in salivary gland tumors. Furthermore, although IMP3 is not a specific diagnostic marker to distinguish the tumors studied, it seems to mediate cell adhesion and migration in these tumors. Further studies should be performed to better understand the IMP3 biology in salivary gland tumors.

This study suggests that incisional biopsies may be useful and significant as they can show histopathological variables that are important to classify oral squamous cell carcinomas into low grade and high grade according to Bryne’s score, which was used in this study. Thus, more representative biopsies might be useful to achieve this and allow a more accurate planning.

Salivary gland neoplasms represent an important group of cancers in the head and neck and myoepithelial cells play a key role on the development these tumors. This study evaluated the distribution of mast cells and related proteins (PAR-2, TGFβ1, IL-6) to the myofibroblastic differentiation in malignant tumors of salivary glands with and without myoepithelial differentiation. Immunohistochemical assessement for tryptase mast cells, SMA, PAR-2, TGFβ1, IL-6 was performed in 10 cases of polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma, 14 cases of mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) and 10 cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma. When the density of mast cells were compared between tumors, their density was significantly higher in MEC (P = 0.08). Tumors with high expression of PAR-2 (79.4%) exhibited a high density of mast cells. Myofibroblasts were more frequent in malignant tumors with low expression (< 50%) of cell masts. Individual analysis of the tumors showed no significant difference between the expression of PAR-2, IL-6, TGFβ1, and myofibroblasts. When the density of mast cells, myofibroblasts and the expression of PAR-2 protein, IL-6, and TGFβ1 were compared, it was no statistically significant difference between tumors with and without myoepithelial differentiation. The results of present study suggest a possible participation of mast cells and especially of PAR-2 in the development and progression of malignant salivary cancers, regardless of myoepithelial content.

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