Tumor-associated tissue eosinophilia (TATE) has been described in many sites, including head and neck. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and possible role of TATE as a prognostic factor in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Seventy-six consecutive patients with a diagnosis of OSCC were evaluated, and the number of eosinophils was obtained in 3 different areas in the tumor. The possible role of TATE as a prognostic factor in OSCC was investigated with respect to tumor differentiation; perineural, vascular, and muscular invasion (histopathologic parameters); and locoregional metastasis (clinical parameter). Tumor-associated tissue eosinophilia was low in most cases in 3 different areas. The mean eosinophil count was higher in the invasive front of tumor than intratumoral stroma and stroma subjacent the surface epithelium. The relations between TATE and tumor differentiation; perineural, vascular, and muscular invasion; and locoregional metastasis were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Tumor-associated tissue eosinophilia has no correlation with prognostic parameters in OSCC.

Objective: To investigate the association between CD105 and tumor cell proliferation in salivary gland tumors. Methods: In this study, 59 samples of salivary tumors from Khalili Hospital archive, including 20 cases of pleomorphic adenoma (PA), 20 cases of mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) and 19 cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma, as well as 10 cases of normal salivary gland tissue, were reviewed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) for CD105 and Ki67 staining. Results: CD105 positive vessels were absent in normal salivary gland tissue in the vicinity of tumors (51.6% of all tumors were positive). There was a statistically significant difference in frequency of CD105 staining between PA and malignant tumors and between four groups of different lesions (p<0.000) being highest in MEC. Intratumoral microvessel density was also elevated in malignant neoplasms (2.61±3.1) as compared to PA (0.46±0.6). Normal salivary glands did not express Ki67. There was a statistically significant difference in frequency and percentage of Ki67 immunoreactivity in malignant neoplasms (86.5% and 10.7±10.8 respectively) compared to PA (50% and 0.78±0.2) and among the four groups values were highest in MEC (p<0.000). Conclusion: n this study, it was observed a higher rate of angiogenesis and cellular proliferation was noted in malignant tumors compared to benign tumors, but no correlation was observed between these two markers.

Background: Knowledge regarding risk factors and primary signs of oral cancer in the general population can help them to avoid risky behaviour and seek timely advice from a physician. The aim of this study was to survey adult knowledge about risk factors and signs of oral cancer in Shiraz Dental University. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study using an investigator-made questionnaire, 783 adults who were referred to Shiraz Dental University participated. Questionnaire data were analyzed by ANOVA and T-test. Results: The results showed that 32.3% of participants were aware of oral cancer and gained their knowledge from the media. The risk factors mentioned by these participants was as follows: sunlight 30.8%, hot and peppery food 40.7%, alcoholic drinks 47.4% and smoking 73.6% (there was significant relationship for drinking alcohol and gender, education and times of using dental service, p<0.05). They also mentioned the primary signs of oral cancer as follows: red patch without pain 27.8%, white patch without pain 13.5% and prolong scarring without pain 56.7% (there was significant relationship between these three signs and education and times of using dental service, p<0.05). The mean knowledge about the risk factors and signs of oral cancer were 1.94 from 5 with 1.14 standard deviation and 0.96 from 3 with 0.93 standard deviation. Conclusions: The observed low level of knowledge of people regarding both risk factors and signs of oral cancer emphasizes the need for more efforts to be made about the above mentioned issues by the media.

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Squamous cell carcinoma accounts for approximately 90% of oral malignancies. This study was performed to determine the prevalence of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in southern Iran in relation to sex, age, subsite distribution, and histologic differentiation of the tumor. Pathologic records of patients with a histologic diagnosis of OSCC at Fars Cancer Registry of Nemazee Hospital affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences during the period of April 1992 through March 2007 were reviewed. Among 11,220 cases of cancer registered during this period, 200 cases were OSCC (1.7%). The age range of patients was 4 to 87 years (mean, 56.9 years; SD, 15.5 years), with a 1.4:1 male-female ratio. Oral squamous cell carcinoma occurred more frequently in patients older than 60 years. The tongue was the most commonly affected site (53%), followed by the buccal mucosa (9.5%) and maxillary gingiva (9%). The well-differentiated type (55.5%) was the most common, with the poorly differentiated OSCC being the least common (7.5%). The present study showed that OSCC was the most common malignancy in the tongue and buccal mucosa being more common in older age and male sex.

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Background: HER2/neu, a member of EGFR family, is over expressed in some tumors .The purpose of this study was to determine the salivary level and tissue expression of HER2/neu in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and any correlation with clinicopathologic parameters. Methods: An enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to evaluate the salivary level and immunohistochemistry (IHC) to assess tissue expression of HER2/neu in 28 patients with HNSCC and 25 healthy controls. Results: The salivary levels of HER2/neu in HNSCC patients was not significantly higher than in the healthy controls (p>0.005). There was no apparent correlation in salivary HER2/neu level with clinicopathological features such as age, sex, grade, tumor size and nodal status. All HNSCC specimens were positive (membranous or/and cytoplasmic) for HER2/ neu, except one sample. Only one HNSCC specimen was stained in cytoplasm purely. All control specimens were membranous and cytoplasmic positive for HER2/neu. There was a significant difference between cytoplasmic staining in case and control groups (p-value<0.05). Conclusion: In our cases, no overexpression of HER2/neu was observed. Thus, our findings suggested that the use of Her-2 as a salivary marker of HNSCC cannot be recommended.

BackgroundBreakdown of extracellular matrix (ECM) is one of the important hallmarks of cancer progression which facilitates the invasion of tumoral cells to the surrounding tissue. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) can degrade various components of the ECM and basement membrane. The aim of this study was to determine the role of matrix metalloproteinases-9 protein in the biologic behavior of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and its relation with tumor angiogenesis.Material and MethodsIn this study 42 OSCC and 15 normal epithelium were reviewed by immunohistochemical staining for matrix metalloproteinases-9 and CD105.ResultsMatrix metalloproteinases-9 expression was detected in 32 OSCC specimens (76.1%), with 28 specimens (66.6%) showing moderate or strong expression. We observed that the expression level of matrix metalloproteinases-9 was positively correlated with the status of lymph node metastasis (N0vs. N1) (P =0.00), and clinical stage (I-II vs. III-IV) in OSCC patients. Microvessel density in intratumoral tissue has an association with lymph node metastasis and advanced clinical stage (P=0.003 and p=0.01, respectively). We observed that tumors with matrix metalloproteinases-9 overexpression had a higher microvessel density counts compared with tumors with absent or focal immunostaining(16.2±5.6 vs 10.3±3.5 respectively, P =0.03).ConclusionsIn conclusion present results demonstrate the marked expression of matrix metalloproteinases-9 and CD105 in OSCC and suggest that the expression of these markers is associated with tumor progression and could offer additional information about the aggressiveness of OSCC. In addition a significant relationship was noted between microvessel density count and expression of matrix metalloproteinases-9 which suggest that MMP9 expression may be closely related to tumor angiogenesis. Key words:Matrix metalloproteinases-9, CD105, squamous cell carcinoma, immunohistochemistry.