Role of c-Myc mediated p53 dependent pathway in the progression of oral potentially malignant disorders and oral squamous cell carcinoma
Shefali Yadav, Devi Charan Shetty, Nikita Gulati, Saurabh Juneja, Anshi Jain, Atrey J. Pai KhotAbstract
Background:
The concomitant presence of Cellular Myelocytomatosis Oncogene (c-Myc) and p53 in their altered states in various forms and numbers is not as straight forward in the causation of oral cancer and Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMDs). However, the relationship between c-Myc and p53 immunoexpression during oral carcinogenesis remains incompletely understood.
Aims:
To evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of c-Myc and p53 in OPMDs and Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) and to assess their relationship with the proliferative and differentiated compartments and nuclear grading.
Method:
A cross-sectional study was conducted using archival tissue specimens comprising histopathologically confirmed cases of OPMDs and OSCC. A total of 30 histolopathologically confirmed cases of each OSCC and OPMDs was considered as study sample. Immunohistochemistry was performed for c-Myc and p53 in samples fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin. Categorical variables were compared using the Chi-square test. Differences in mean c-Myc/p53 expression ratios across nuclear grades were assessed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Association of c-Myc and p53 immunoexpression was evaluated using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. A
Result:
The results were variable with majority of them showing wide variation between c-Myc and p53 labelling index followed by minor variation in the labelling index of c-Myc and p53. Few of the cases also depicted negative correlation amongst c-Myc and p53 immunoexpression.
Conclusion:
Variation of c-Myc immunoexpression within samples reflects biological alteration of mutated cell. Additionally, overexpression of c-Myc synergizes with p53 in maintaining the proliferative potential of the cell.