RESUMEN
砄bjective:To investigate the variation of nm23 H1 gene structure and its expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and to study the relationship between nm23 H1 expression and OSCC metastasis to neck lymph nodes.Methods: nm23 H1 gene in the samples of 30 cases of OSCC,7 of normal oral mucous tissue,human OSCC cell line TSCCa and human oral metastatic cancer cell line GNM was extracted and amplified by PCR. PCR products were investegated with SSCP analysis; nm23 m RNA level in the samples was studied by in situ hybridization.The relationship between mRNA expression and metastasis to neck lymph nodes was analyzed statistically.Results: All samples showed no change in nm23 H1 gene structure except deletion in one case of OSCC;7 out of 9 cases with metastasis to neck lymph nodes showed no hybridization signal of nm23 H1 mRNA,however,only 5 were found no nm23 H1 mRNA in 21 cases without metastasis,positive rate of nm23 H1 expression in GNM cells was lower than that in TSCCa (41.2% versus 63.1%);The expression of nm23 H1 gene showed significant negative relationship with neck lymph nodes metastasis ( P