The expression of K4 in the tissue of oral submucous fibrosis at the early, middle and advanced stages

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expressions of cytokeratin/keratin 4 in the buccal tissue of oral submucous fibrosis at the early, middle and advanced stages, explore which role keratin4(K4) plays in the process and development of oral submucous fibrosis (OSF), and provide evidence for K4 being a promising biomarker to evaluate the development and prognosis of OSF. Methods Ten cases of normal tissues, and 10 cases of OSF tissues with typical early, middle and advanced stages, were selected, respectively. Detect the expression of K4 in the tissue mentioned above through immunohistochemistry and Western blot. The data was analyzed by statistical means. Results The results of immunohistochemistry showed that K4 was mainly located in cytoplasm, and positive cells with brownish yellow granules were seen in whole epithelial layer of the normal mucosa. The expression of K4 was lower at all stages of OSF than that at the normal tissue with statistical significance (P 0.05). Conclusions The expression of K4 in OSF tissue of early, middle and advanced stages were decreased compared to normal tissue, respectively. It suggests that K4 might play and important role in the initiation and development of OSF. Key words: Oral submucous fibrosis/ME; Keratin-4/ME