Abstract
Introduction Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide, resulting in approximately 550,000 diagnoses of new cases and 300,000 deaths per year globally. Overexpression of Sphingosine kinase - 1 (SphK1) is found in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) from early to advanced stages and is associated with tumor progression, invasion, metastasis and poor prognosis. This study assesses the expression of sphingosine kinase - 1 (SphK1) in oral leukoplakia and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and suggests its role as a potential biomarker tool for cancer risk assessment in oral leukoplakia. Methods In this retrospective study, eighty-two (n = 82) archival formalin-fixed paraffin blocks consisting of 10 normal tongue mucosa (Group A), 42 cases of oral leukoplakia (Group B) and 30 cases of OSCCs (Group C) were selected and subjected to immunohistochemical staining for anti-rabbit SphK1 antibody. The three different groups were compared for the presence of Sphk1 expression. The clinicopathological parameters such as age, gender, habits, histopathology, and Sphk1 expression were analyzed and compared between the malignantly transformed leukoplakia with untransformed leukoplakia. Results Positive SphK1 expression was found in 18 out of 42 (42.9 %) cases of oral leukoplakia and 17 out of 30 (56.7 %) cases of OSCCs while there was no SphK1 expression in normal tongue mucosa. The expression of SphK1 among three different groups of tissue samples was statistically significant (P = 0.007). The correlation between the malignant transformed and untransformed leukoplakia lesion with respect to SphK1 expression was also found to be statistically significant (P= 0.007) Conclusions Positive SphK1 expression in oral leukoplakia is suggestive of an increased risk for malignant transformation which can be used as a biomarker tool. Higher SPHK1 expression in the OSCC may suggest an important role in the early stages of tumorigenesis.
Highlights
Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer world-wide, resulting in approximately 550,000 diagnoses of new cases and 300,000 deaths per year globally
Positive Sphingosine kinase - 1 (SphK1) expression in oral leukoplakia is suggestive of an increased risk for malignant transformation which can be used as a biomarker tool
Higher SPHK1 expression in the oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) may suggest an important role in the early stages of tumorigenesis
Summary
Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer world-wide, resulting in approximately 550,000 diagnoses of new cases and 300,000 deaths per year globally. This study assesses the expression of sphingosine kinase - 1 (SphK1) in oral leukoplakia and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and suggests its role as a potential biomarker tool for cancer risk assessment in oral leukoplakia. ORIGINAL ARTICLE plaques of questionable risk having excluded (other) known diseases or disorders that carry no increased risk for cancer and is the most common premalignant lesion found in mouth”.3. The gold standard method of assessing the malignant transformation risk of leukoplakia is the histopathological assessment of dysplasia.[5] it has been found that most of the oral cancer developed from lesions that lacked dysplastic changes.[6,7] there is a need to identify the molecular markers that can help in defining the risk potential of the precancerous lesions such as leukoplakia
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