Study of β-catenin, E-cadherin and vimentin in oral squamous cell carcinoma with and without lymph node metastases

Background: Despite great improvement in the surgical treatment and adjunctive therapy for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), prognosis remains dismal in advanced cases. Regional metastatic disease is known to reduce recurrence free survival and disease specific survival significantly. The present study was conducted to evaluate the role of cell adhesion molecules beta-catenin, E-cadherin and vimentin in predicting tumour metastasis of OSCC. Methods: A total of sixty cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma were included for the study which comprised of 30 cases with lymph node metastases and 30 cases without metastases. Immunohistochemistry was performed for beta-catenin, E-cadherin and vimentin on both the test groups along with 30 controls from normal buccal mucosa and inflammatory lesions each. Results: There was no significant difference between the immunoreactivity for beta-catenin, E-cadherin and vimentin between OSCC with and without lymph node metastases. Vimentin immunopositivity was noted with varying intensity in all cases of OSCC. Conclusions: E-cadherin and beta-catenin are probably not the key determinants for regional metastases in OSCC. The role of vimentin expression in OSCC and metastases is controversial and needs to be studied further.