Review: Salivary gland tumors (SGTs) are considered to be a challenging field in the diagnostic pathology, with many overlapping different histopathological features. PA, WT, MEC and ADCC are common neoplasms arising from the salivary glands. The sonic hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway has important functions in embryonic development, cell proliferation and differentiation. MCM4 form complex that binds to DNA and acts in the initiation of DNA replication, regulate cell proliferation and consider a sensitive proliferation marker for cancer diagnosis.
Aim of study: The current study aimed to examine the immunohistochemical expression of SHH in benign and malignant SGTs and correlate its expression with proliferation of tumor cells through expression of MCM4.
Material and Methods: Immunohistochemical expression of SHH and MCM4 was evaluated in 5 samples of each PA, WT, MEC and ADCC.
Results: The malignant SGTs showed the highest mean value for both SHH (25.69±6.89) and MCM4 expression (27.09±7.35) than benign groups, ADCC showed the higher mean value for SHH and MCM4 expressions while PA showed the lower mean value, with statistically significant positive relation between SHH and MCM4 expression in the benign and malignant SGTs and also in four SGTs studied.
Conclusion: Over expression and strong positive correlation between SHH & MCM4 in benign & malignant SGTs indicates their important role in tumorigenesis of these neoplasms. Also, indicates their crucial role in undifferention and progression of cancer cells by increasing their proliferation ability, which makes them promising prognostic factors and new targeted genes therapies in treatment of these tumors.