Immunohistochemical study on FGF-2 in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) is a member of the heparin-binding growth factor family and has mitogenetic effects on cultured f ibroblasts. Expression of FGF-2 is reported to be higher in human oral squamous cell carcinomas (HOSCC) than in normal mucosa, with more intense expression in more poorly differentiated tumors. However, many aspects remain unknown regarding the mechanism through which FGF-2 affects the multiplication of f ibroblasts. It is not clear either how FGF-2 is related to invasion and metastasis of HOSCC. In this study, we examined the expression of FGF-2 in HOSCC by immunohistochemical staining and comparative analysis to determine the relevance of FGF-2 for invasion, metastasis and prognosis. For this purpose, the expression of FGF-2 of cancer cells and fibroblasts in front of invasion of HOSCC was divided into Cancer cell (positive) Fibroblast (positive) type and Cancer cell (positive) Fibroblast (negative) type. Immunohistochemical analysis detected a high level of the Cancer cell (positive) Fibroblast (positive) type in lymph node metastasis (+) cases. Furthermore, there was a tendency for the Cancer cell (positive) Fibroblast (positive) type to increase as the mode of invasion intensified. Using a survival analysis by the Kaplan-Meier method, there was a significant correlation with prognosis. We conclude that FGF-2 may play an important role in the process of invasion and metastasis in HOSCC. FGF-2 was found to correlate with the mode of invasion, lymph node metastasis and prognosis.