RESUMEN
Background:In India, the incidence of cancer of buccal mucosa is a serious public health issue where a large fraction is related to the poor treatment outcome. Identification of high-risk oral premalignant lesions could constitute as one of the key factors in reducing the morbidity, mortality and cost of treatment associated with oral squamous cell carcimnoma (OSCC).Methods: Total 62 subjects of buccal mucosa lesions were enrolled in this study. Using immunohistochemistry, expression of p53 and CD44 was studied from paraffin embedded tumor tissue blocks. Results: Nuclear p53 expression was significantly higher in premalignant lesions compared to malignant tumors (P=0.037), and also in early stage OSCC patients (P=0.012). On correlating CD44 protein expression with different clinicopathological parameters of OSCC patients, significant inverse correlation of CD44 was observed with lymphnode metastasis (P=0.042) and tumor stage (P=0.042).Conclusion: p53 expression is associated with patients having premalignant lesions & having significant higher risk of progressing to OSCC. Expression of both, p53 and CD44 were found to be early events in oral cancer. Thus, for identifying high risk OSCC patients for better patient management, p53 and CD44 might be useful significant biomarkers; however, further study in more number of patients is needed to identify their precise role in oral carcinogenesis.