Altered β-catenin expression in oral mucosal dysplasia: a comparative study

Abstract

Objective The current study aimed to investigate the β-catenin expression in oral leukoplakia (OL) with different degrees of epithelial dysplasia and normal oral mucosa.Material and Methods Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples of 39 OL (mild dysplasia n=19, moderate dysplasia n=13, and severe dysplasia n=7), and 10 normal oral mucosa (control group) were submitted to immunohistochemical reactions to anti-β-catenin primary antibody. A qualitative β-catenin analysis was performed based on the percentage of positive cells. The cellular location and the epithelial layer were also considered. The Chi-square test and the Fisher’s exact test were used to verify possible differences in the β-catenin expression among the OL groups. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results Membranous expression of β-catenin in parabasal and basal layers was gradually lost in the higher degrees of epithelial dysplasia. In normal oral mucosa, β-catenin was detected only in the cytoplasmic membrane. However, a significant increase in cytoplasmic β-catenin could be observed between mild and moderate dysplasia (Fisher Exact test - p<0.001) and between mild and severe dysplasia (p<0.001).Conclusions The β-catenin cytoplasmic expression observed in this study may represent the initial stage of modifications in the E-cadherin-catenin complex, along with morphological cellular changes.

Prognostic value of the immunohistochemical detection of epithelial-mesenchymal transition biomarkers in oral epithelial dysplasia: A systematic review

“…After reading the titles and abstracts, 54 studies were considered potentially eligible and their full text was read by three reviewers. Seventeen articles met all inclusion criteria and were selected for this systematic review (5,(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33). The selected articles were observational studies published between 2007 and 2018, all of them in English.…”

The Significance of the Dysregulation of Canonical Wnt Signaling in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas

“…Indeed, many immunohistochemical analyses have documented the membranous localization of β-catenin in cells of normal mucosal epithelium [24,25], while cytoplasmic or nuclear presence of β-catenin, which can mark canonical Wnt pathway activation, is infrequent in normal epithelial cells [26,27]. In contrast, dysplastic or cancerous epithelium shows a decrease in membranous β-catenin level and abnormal delocalization of β-catenin to cytoplasmic and, sometimes, also nuclear compartments [13,18,24,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. A progressive loss of membranous β-catenin was reported during transition from hyperplasia to dysplasia and carcinoma [34].…”

Avaliação da expressão de &#x3B2;-catenina e ciclina D1 como biomarcadores preditivos para o câncer de lábio

“…Desse modo, estudos mais recentes passaram a investigar a expressão de β-catenina nas diferentes localizações, membrana, citoplasma e núcleo, na carcinogênese oral (ISHIDA et al, 2007;LO MUZIO et al, 2009;LIU;MILLAR, 2010;KAUR et al, 2013;ROSADO et al, 2013;ZAID, 2014;REYS et al, 2015;SILVA et al, 2015;GONZALEZ MOLES et al, 2016).…”

“…Dentre esses, alguns avaliaram a expressão de β-catenina em leucoplasias orais com displasia epitelial e observaram que na presença da displasia houve perda da expressão membranosa e a expressão passou a ser citoplasmática e/ou nuclear, sendo a β-catenina considerada um bom marcador para displasia epitelial (ISHIDA et al, 2007;CAI et al, 2008;LO MUZIO et al, 2009;LOPES et al, 2009;LAXMIDEVI et al, 2010;LIU;MILLAR, 2010;KAUR et al, 2013;REYS et al, 2015;SILVA et al, 2015).…”

“…Porém, observou-se uma perda, estatisticamente significativa, dessa expressão na camada basal das queilites actínicas com displasia intensa/Cis (p=0,006) e nos carcinomas espinocelulares de lábio (p=0,000), conforme descrito nas Tabelas 2 e 4. Esses resultados reforçam aqueles descritos em outras lesões potencialmente malignas na boca, por exemplo, em leucoplasias com displasias epiteliais, onde foi observado que havia uma perda da expressão membranosa de β-catenina a medida que aumentava a intensidade da displasia epitelial (ISHIDA et al, 2007;CAI et al, 2008;LO MUZIO et al, 2009;LOPES et al, 2009;LAXMIDEVI et al, 2010;LIU;MILLAR, 2010;KAUR et al, 2013;REYS et al, 2015;SILVA et al, 2015). Nossos resultados também corroboram com os de Lopes et al (2009) e Zaid (2014, ao sugerirem que a expressão membranosa reduzida de β-catenina está relacionada com o alto grau de indiferenciação celular dos queratinócitos neoplásicos.…”