β-Catenin Alterations in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lip

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the correlation between ß-catenin immunoexpression and histopathologicalgrades of lower lip squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). β-Catenin abnormal expression was found in 29% of thesquamous cells of well differentiated LSCC, 63% of moderately differentiated and 86% of poorly differentiated,and therefor was significantly associated with histological grade (p=0.000). Nuclear β-catenin expression appearedin 5% of the cells and was also correlated with the histological grades (p=0.000). In 14.7% of the cells it waslocalized in the cytoplasm, again correlating with histology (p=0.002). According to this study the expressionof β-catenin is an independent prognostic factor for histological grade and to the tumor differentiation. Thisappears to reflect a structural association and the role of β-catenin in tumor progression.