Correlation of Beta-2 Adrenergic Receptor Expression inTumor-Free Surgical Margin and at the Invasive Front ofOral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background. The beta-2 adrenergic receptor is expressed by neoplastic cells and is correlated with a wide spectrum of tumor cell mechanisms including proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, migration, and metastasis. Objectives. The present study aimed to analyze the expression of the beta-2 adrenergic receptor (ß2-AR) in tumor-free surgical margins of oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) and at the invasive front. Sixty-two patients diagnosed with OSCC, confirmed by biopsy, were selected for the study. The clinicopathological data and clinical follow-up were obtained from medical records and their association with ß2-AR expression was verified by the chi-square test or Fischer's exact test. To verify the correlation of ß2-AR expression in tumor-free surgical margins and at the invasive front of OSCCs, Pearson's correlation coefficient test was applied. Results. The expression of ß2-AR presented a statistically significant correlation between the tumor-free surgical margins and the invasive front of OSCC (r = 0.383; p = 0.002). The immunohistochemical distribution of ß2-AR at the invasive front of OSCC was also statistically significant associated with alcohol (p = 0.038), simultaneous alcohol and tobacco consumption (p = 0.010), and T stage (p = 0.014). Conclusions. The correlation of ß2-AR expression in OSCC and tumor-free surgical margins suggests a role of this receptor in tumor progression and its expression in normal oral epithelium seems to be constitutive

Citologia esfoliativa da mucosa oral: comparação citomorfométrica da mucosa oral normal em pacientes com câncer oral e indivíduos sadios / Exfoliative cytology of the oral mucosa: a cytomorphometric comparison of healthy oral mucosa in oral cancer patients and healthy subjects

O objetivo do presente trabalho foi identificar as diferenças citomorfométricas entre a mucosa oral de pacientes com câncer oral e indivíduos sadios. Sistema de análise de imagens foi utilizado para determinar a área nuclear (AN), área citoplasmática (AC) e a relação AN/AC em 1.000 células da mucosa oral de 10 pacientes com carcinoma oral e 10 indivíduos sadios. Nos pacientes com câncer oral, a amostra foi obtida de áreas visivelmente não afetadas pelo carcinoma. A média AN encontrada nos pacientes com câncer foi 103 mm2 e 105 mm2 nos indivíduos sadios; a média AC no grupo com câncer foi 2482 mm2 e 2677 mm2 nos indivíduos sadios; e a relação AN/AC observada nos pacientes com câncer foi de 0.05 e 0.04 nos indivíduos sadios. Nenhuma das diferenças foi estatisticamente significativa em um nível de 5 por cento. Pode-se concluir que nem a área citoplasmática, a área nuclear e a AN/AC são diferentes na mucosa oral de pacientes com câncer e indivíduos sadios