A study of epithelial-mesenchymal transition immunohistochemical markers in primary oral squamous cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) using E-cadherin, epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), vimentin, and smooth muscle actin (SMA), and their association with tumor metastasis and grade. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective study, which included 45 diagnosed cases of primary oral SCC with known lymph node status, taken from the archives of the Department of Pathology along with their clinical profile. Histomorphologic evaluation and immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis for E-cadherin, EMA, vimentin, and SMA were performed. IHC expression of these markers was compared with tumor differentiation as well as lymph node metastasis. RESULTS: We observed that reduced E-cadherin expression and positive expression of SMA were significantly higher in tumors having lymph node metastasis and loss of tumor differentiation, respectively. Reduced EMA expression was associated with the presence of lymph node metastasis but not with the histologic differentiation. Vimentin positivity did not show any correlation with lymph node metastasis or histologic differentiation. CONCLUSIONS: This study emphasizes the importance of EMT in the pathogenesis of oral SCC. The use of biomarkers like E-cadherin, EMA, and SMA might be a valuable tool for predicting patient outcomes and therapy.