Expressions of p16 and p21 Protein in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinomas / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (CDKI) is known to play an important role in oncogenesis, but its clinical effect in head and neck cancer has not been reported yet. This study was designed to evaluate the correlation between the pattern of expression in p16 and p21, and tumor progress in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Paraffin-embedded tissue specimens from 54 patients, who were operated for laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma between Dec. 1990 and Apr. 1997, were immunohistochemically stained for p16 and p21 protein. The clinical features from these patients were retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS: In p16, the proportion of early T stage (T1, T2) and early N stage (N0) was relatively larger in the diffusely staining type than in the other staining pattern; but, the correlation between expression of p16 and T N stage was not significant (p=0.07, 0.65). In p21, proportion of early T stage (T1, T2) and early N stage (N0) was relatively larger in the diffusely staining type than in the other staining pattern; and again, the correlation between expression of p21 and T N stage was not significant (p=0.06, 0.10). CONCLUSION: Other factors were suggested to be strongly related to the clinical aspects of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, such as N stage and T stage than p16 and p21. Further study will be needed to understand the role of p16, p21 in oncogenesis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.