Differential beta-catenin expression between glottic and supraglottic laryngeal carcinoma

Glottic carcinomas present with a favorable prognosis comparing to supraglottic. This fact is mainly attributed to differences in anatomical, histological and embryological aspects. It is possible that differential molecular anatomy between the two distinct anatomical entities contributes to this clinical observation as well. The current study intended to evaluate, by immunohistochemistry in paraffin-embedded tissue samples from 97 invasive squamous laryngeal carcinomas, the possible differential expression of crucial molecules for malignant cell's function such as integrin-linked kinase, phosphorylated Akt, E-cadherin, beta-catenin, androgen receptor, estrogen receptor-beta and vimentin between glottic and supraglottic laryngeal carcinomas. We documented a correlation of supraglottic laryngeal carcinomas with high grade (p = 0.001) and enhanced tumor TNM stage (p < 0.001). The supraglottic location was correlated with the abolishment of beta-catenin from the membrane (p = 0.025). However, the diverse anatomical locations are not characterized by statistically significant differential expression of ILK, p-Akt, AR, ER-beta, E-cadherin and vimentin. Our results show that it is possible that molecular factors, such as beta-catenin, are differently expressed in glottic and supraglottic carcinomas, leading to the distinct clinical behavior of those tumors.