1991 Volume 37 Issue 9 Pages 1616-1622
We studied 74 cases of squamous cell carcinoma in the oral cavity, clinico-pathologically and immunohistochemically. Of the 74 cases, primary cervical lymph node metastasis was observed in 19 cases and secondary cervical lymph node metastasis in 8 cases. The materials were obtained before the treatment, fixed in 10% formalin or 2% PLP and embedded in paraffin. Immunostaining of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) was performed by the avidin-biotin peroxidase complex (ABC) method with monoclonal mouse anti-human CEA antibody and anti-human EMA antibody respectively. CEA-and EMA-positive stainings were graded as “slight”, less than 25%, “moderate”: 25-75%, “marked”: more than 75%, judging by stained area in the 100X field.
The results showed that the grade of CEA and EMA staining correlated with the degree of epithelial differentiation of the tumor, although EMA was more sensitive marker than CEA. In addition, high frequency of “marked” CEA and EMA expression in no cervical lymph node metastatic cases was observed significantly. However, there was no significant relation between the grade of CEA and EMA stainings and the presence of cervical lymph node metastasis as whole. Thus, by examining these factors, we were unable to satisfactorily predict the presence of cervical lymph node metastasis.
