Podoplanin expression in salivary gland carcinomas and its clinical significance. An immunohistochemical study.

Abstract

Podoplanin (D2-40) is alymphatic endothelial marker that is considered as aspecific marker for lymphatic endothelial cells and lymphangiogenesis in salivary gland carcinomas (SGCs). Aim: thepresent study aimed to investigate theimmunohistochemical expression ofpodoplanin in SGCs and to correlate its expression with theclinicopathological parameters and patients' survival. Forty-nine SGC cases were electronically selected. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and survival data were reviewed and tabulated. Immunohistochemistry was performed using antipodoplanin. Cases were divided into low and high expression based on ascoring system. Ascore of0 and 1 was considered low expression, while > 1 was considered high expression. Podoplanin high expression was seen in 46.9% ofcases, and 53.1% ofcases showed low expression. Significant statistical associations were seen between podoplanin expression and tumour grade ( p ≤ 0.001), tumour-nodal- metastasis (TNM) stage (p ≤ 0.001), tumour size (p ≤ 0.001), nodal metastasis (p ≤ 0.001), tumour type (p = 0.03), prognosis (p ≤ 0.001), and mortality (p ≤ 0.001). The overall survival and progression-free survival differed significantly in cases with high and low expression (p ≤ 0.001). Podoplanin overexpression might be asignificant prognostic indicator for patients with SGCs, implicating that it is apotential therapeutic target to improve survival in these cancer patients.