Expression and distribution pattern of podoplanin in oral submucous fibrosis with varying degrees of dysplasia – an immunohistochemical study

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study analyzed and compared podoplanin expression and its distribution pattern immunohistochemically in normal oral mucosa and oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) with mild, moderate and severe dysplasia, score and compared the expression for these various levels of dysplasia. The study was done on formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues using immunohistochemical staining for podoplanin in 40 cases consisting of Group A (normal oral mucosa) and Group B (OSF with mild dysplasia), Group C (OSF with moderate dysplasia), and Group D (OSF with severe dysplasia). The results were statistically analyzed using Pearson chi-square test. The study results showed positive podoplanin expression in 8 OSF cases with mild dysplasia, 7 OSF cases with moderate dysplasia, 10 OSF cases with severe dysplasia, and negative expression in all cases of normal oral mucosa. Significant association between the dysplasia and podoplanin expression was observed (p = 0.0001). As the dysplasia score increased, the corresponding podoplanin expression score also increased. Podoplanin seemed to have an increased expression as the dysplasia grade increases suggesting its role in progression of the disease toward malignancy. Further prospective studies with greater sample size are required to demonstrate the role of podoplanin in the malignant transformation of OSF.