Immunohistochemical expression of MUC4 in different grades of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Abstract

To determine immunohistochemical expression of Mucin 4 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and its different histological grades among patients reporting to various tertiary care hospitals in an urban setting. The descriptive study was conducted at the Department of Oral Pathology / Morbid Anatomy and Histopathology, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan, from January to July 2017 and comprised cases of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Histological diagnosis and grading was done for each case. Haematoxylin and eosin stain followed by immunohistochemistry was done. Relation of Mucin 4 expression with tumour types was explored. SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis. Of the 63 samples, 40(63.5%) were from male patients. The overall mean age of the patients was 53±3.77 years. Mucin 4 expression was positive in 47(74.6%) cases. Of them, 16(34%) had grade 1 tumour, 28(59.6%) had grade 2 and 3(6.4%) had grade 3 tumour. There was a significant relation (p=0.03) between tumour grades and intensity of Mucin 4 expression. Upregulation of Mucin 4 in tumour tissue with no expression in normal epithelium was found and loss of Mucin 4 expression with increase in tumour grade was noted.