Evidence for field change in oral cancer based on cytokeratin expression

It was hypothesised that one may be able to visualise field changes, which are proposed to exist around tumours, as alterations in keratin intermediate filament protein expression. Standard immunohistochemical analysis using a panel of monoclonal anti-keratin antibodies was applied to fresh tissue sections to look for subtle changes in epithelial differentiation not visible in H&E sections. Such changes were observed in clinically normal epithelium from oral cancer patients, involving primarily substantial expression of keratins K8/K7 (using CAM 5.2) in the basal cells of 12 out of 34 biopsies, and also a trend towards a reduction in the complexity of keratin differentiation. Monitoring such changes may prove to be a valuable adjunct to conventional H&E staining if found to have prognostic and diagnostic significance.