Year: 2019
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND E-cadherin is essential for cell to cell adhesion and its reduced expression will result in dissemination of cells, cancer metastasis and invasiveness.Lymph-node metastases is an independent prognostic factor in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.Studies indicate that 4-40% of patients with laryngeal carcinoma with clinically/radiologically negative neck lymph nodes indeed have occult metastases.So, study of E-cadherin expression would be noteworthy in case of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. METHODSAn institution based observational cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2017 to July 2018.Patients diagnosed as laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (DL biopsy/laryngectomy specimen) who did not receive chemo/ radiotherapy were included in the study.Evaluation for grades were done from haematoxylin and eosin stained sections.Formalin fixed and paraffin-embedded blocks were analysed for E-cadherin expression by immunohistochemistry using a scoring system.Data were analysed by Mean ± Standard Deviation, (Min-Max).The results on categorical measurements are expressed in Number (%).We have used Student t test to find the significance of study parameters between the two groups.To find the significance of study parameters on categorical scale between two or more groups we have used Fisher Exact test with the help of statistical software SPSS 18.0. RESULTSA total of 50 laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma cases were enrolled during the entire study period.The age of the patients included in our study varied from 37 years to 77 years with most patients belonging to the age group of 61-70 yrs.18 out of 50 cases contributing to 36% belonged to the age group 61-70 years with the mean age being 57 years.We found a definite statistical correlation between loss of expression of Ecadherin and increasing histological grades of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.Positive correlation was also found between neck node metastasis and loss of expression of E-cadherin CONCLUSIONSThrough our study we experienced that our ability can be increased to identify those patients who have more aggressive disease by keeping an eye on E-cadherin expression.These patients have more chances of already having occult metastasis at the time of diagnosis and hence may benefit from elective lymph node clearance by neck dissection.Metastasis is a multi-step process and involves many biomolecules.Therefore, only one biomarker will not suffice.A panel of biomarkers can be more effective to predict the metastatic potential and aggressive behaviour of the primary tumour in a better and accurate way.
Authors: Ujjwal Ghosh, Suman Ghosh, Anup Kumar Roy
Language: English
Topic: Head and Neck Cancer Studies
Subfield: Otorhinolaryngology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3001237207