The Expression And Clinical Significance Of Beclin1、LC3 And P62 In Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

ObjectiveAutophagy is highly related to cancer and other diseases, however, the role of autophagy in the development and progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC) remains poorly understood. The study was designed to investigate the expression of Beclin1、LC3 and P62, analyze the correlation among these proteins and to clarify their clinical significance in OSCC. MethodsSixty surgical OSCC specimens( between January 2015 and October 2015) were obtained from the Department of Pathology, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Thirty normal oral mucosal epithelial tissues were collected from the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Beclin1 、 LC3 and P62 expression was examined by immunohistochemistry. Relationship with patient clinical characteristics and correlation among these proteins were evaluated. All analyses were conducted by SPSS 17.0 software package, and statistical methods contain the Chi-square test、Fisher’s exact test and Spearman correlation ananlysis. For all tests, P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results1. Beclin1 was observed mainly in the cytoplasms and cytomembranes of OSCC cells and normal oral mucosal squamous epithelial cells, while LC3 and P62 were in cytoplasms. In addition, LC3 was occasionally found in the nuclei of cells. Beclin1 was positively expressed in 38.3%(23/60) of the OSCC, which was markedly lower than that of normal oral mucosal epithelial tissues(80%,24/30)(P<0.05). LC3 was 36.7%(22/60) of the OSCC when compared with 73.3%(22/30) in normal oral mucosal epithelial tissues(P<0.05). Furthermore, high P62 expression(75%, 45/60) in OSCC was significantly different from the low expression(43.3%, 13/30) in normal oral mucosal epithelial tissues(P<0.05).2. We analyzed the expression of Beclin1、LC3 and P62 in OSCC tissues correlate with patient clinicopathologic characteristics. Beclin1 expression was associated with differentiation degree and lymph node metastases, LC3 expression was associated with clinical stage 、differentiation degree and lymph node metastases, P62 expression was associated with lymph node metastases(P<0.05). Their expression were not significantly associated with clinicopathological para-meters, including patient age, gender and tumor location(P>0.05).3. Spearman test showed that Beclin1 was positively associated with LC3 in OSCC with a correlation coefficient of 0.467(P<0.05), whereas LC3 was inversely correlated with P62 with a correlation coefficient of-0.359(P<0.05). No significant correlation was found between Beclin1 and P62 expression in OSCC(P>0.05). ConclusionsBeclin1 and LC3 are downregulated in OSCC, while P62 expression is high. The aberrant expression correlates with the pathogenesis and development of OSCC.