[Anti-metastasis gene nm23 expression in buccal cancer studied by immunohistochemistry stain]

The nm23 gene has been proposed as a candidate metastasis-suppressor gene. In this study we used immunohistochemistry stain for polyclone antibody nm23 in 62 cases of buccal carcinoma. The results showed that both the epithelium of mucosa and the duct epithelium of minor salivary gland nearby the tumor were strong positive. The stains on tumor cells were various. 31.0% (9/29) of the cases with lymph-node metastasis were positive while 57.6% (19/33) of those with no lymph-node metastasis positive (P = 0.044). Histologically, 59.4% (19/32) of the cases were positive in Grade I, while 37.5% (6/16) positive in Grade II and 21.4% (3/14) in Grade III (P = 0.048). The positive rate increased with the patients survival time from less than 3 years to 3-5 years and more than 5 years correspondingly, but there was no statistical significance (P = 0.126). The results suggested that the expression of nm23 might be one of the factors influencing the lymph-node metastasis and prognosis of buccal cancer.