CD44 and CD74: The promising candidates for molecular targeted therapy in oral squamous cell carcinoma
Abstract
Background: Considering molecular target therapy concept in the treatment of oral squamous
cell carcinoma (OSCC), many attempts have been performed to introduce an effective molecular
marker during recent years. Several investigations have emphasized on the role of CD44 in various
cancers and few studies have mentioned CD24 and CD74. The purpose of this study was to
investigate the relationship between CD44, CD24 and CD74 expressions and several clinical or
histopathological factors in OSCC patients.
Materials and Methods: In our analytical cross-sectional study, forty primary OSCC specimens
were immunohistochemically stained for CD44, CD24, and CD74 proteins. Then, the relationship
between their expressions and age, sex, lymph node metastasis, and histopathologic grading was
statistically analyzed using Mann-Whitney nonparametric and t-test. Furthermore, P < 0.05 was
considered as signifi cant.
Results: CD44 and CD74 proteins were signifi cantly over-expressed in OSCC patients with
high grade (P = 0.001 and P = 0.001) as compared to those with low grade. Furthermore, CD74
immunoreactivity showed signifi cantly higher expression in patients with lower age (P = 0.039).
Considering lymph node metastasis, we observed signifi cant overexpression of CD74 in patients
with no lymph node involvement (P = 0.033).
Conclusion: Our observations support the signifi cant role of membranous CD44 protein in
progression of OSCC and also introduce CD74 protein as a probable interfering factor in different
aspects of OSCC.
Key Words: Antigen, CD24, CD44, carcinoma, immunohistochemistry, squamous cell of head and neck
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