두경부 편평세포암에서 c-Met 단백 발현의 의의

Abstract

Background and Objectives：Various tumor markers have been studied in an attempt to evaluate and decide the optimal treatment of the patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma(HNSCC). A nuclear antigen Ki-67 is a proliferative marker of tumor cells in all phases of cell cycle except G0. c-met gene, the tyrosine kinase receptor for hepatocyte growth factor(HGF), may play various roles in malignant transformation. The author evaluated the prognostic significance of Ki-67 and c-Met in surgical specimens of HNSCC to determine the relationship with the various clinicopathological characteristics. Materials and Methods：Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded surgical specimens were obtained from 54 patients with HNSCC. Ki-67 and c-Met expressions were analyzed by immunohistochemical staning and were compared with the clinicopathological characteristics such as, pathologic differentiation, tumor stage, clinical stage and lymph node metastasis. Results：There was positive correlation of increased expression of Ki-67 with tumor stage and clinical stage, increased expression of c-Met with tumor stage, clinical stage, and nodal status. But there was no significant correlation between expression of Ki-67 and nodal status for the HNSCC. The expression of c-Met had a significant positive relationship with Ki-67 index (p< 0.05). Conclusion：Therefore, Ki-67 and c-Met are useful markers of tumor progression, aggressiveness and prognosis in HNSCC.