Aim of the study: To demonstrate the presence, location and
pattern of cell proliferation in different histological grades of oral
epithelial dysplasia and normal oral epithelium (NOE) using an
antibody directed against the Ki-67 antigen.
Oral epithelial dysplasia is a precancerous change develops in the oral mucosa, and
leukoplakia is the most common precancerous lesions in oral mucosa.
The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is considered the mechanism through
which the oral
leukoplakia becomes malignant, and it's also responsible for the invasion
and metastasis of cancers. This study investigates the expression of β-catenin in epithelialmesenchymal
transition detected by immunohistochemical staining in the different grades
of oral epithelial dysplasia.
The sample consisted of 45 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of oral
leukoplakia with different grades of oral epithelial dysplasia; specimenswere
immunohistochemically stained with β-catenin antibody.
The control group was consisted of biopsies from the normal oral epithelia.
The EMT rates are associated with the severity of the oral epithelial dysplasia.That
means, the epithelial-mesenchymal transition marker β-catenin could be used to evaluate
the potentiality of malignant transformation in the precancerous lesions.
