BCL-X expression in oral cancer: Comparison between oral squamous cell carcinoma and verrucous carcinoma

Verrucous carcinoma (VC) should be considered a distinct clinicopathologic entity different from the more common oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) because of its unique biological behavior. Best way to understand the behavior of these carcinomas is to study them by means of molecular methods, especially in tumor progression tests and Bcl-X is an important antiapoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family and is one of the newest and most useful markers to determine the aggressiveness of many carcinomas. The relationship between this Bcl-X protein and carcinomatous behavior toward it is not studied extensively, which we attempted to evaluate using immunohistochemical analysis in selected carcinomas of the head and neck region.

We studied Bcl-X protein expression in sections of thirty OSCC and ten VC samples and correlated this with tumor differentiation.

There was a significant difference in cytoplasmic staining of Bcl-X expression with statistical analysis (P < 0.005) for VC and OSCC when compared as a group. No significance was seen among the different histological grades of OSCC and when compared with VC individually.

The significant result between OSCC and VC suggests that their biologic course is comparable and can be helpful in differentiating them with each other for establishment of a better treatment protocol.