Moustafa RefatElsherbiny *, DoaaAbd Allah Farg ** ,Sherif Yousef Mohamed El-Nagdy*** and Ashraf Abdel fatahKhater****
* Bachelor degree student, Faculty of Dentistry, Mansoura University, Egypt.
** Assistant Professor of oral Pathology, Faculty of Dentistry, Mansoura University, Egypt.
*** Professor and head of Oral Pathology, Faculty of Dentistry, Mansoura University, Egypt.
**** Professor of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt.
Abstract:
Background:Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is the most common malignant salivary gland tumor. Consequently, it is necessary to determine sensitive biomarkers, diagnostic and prognostic markers, to assist pathologists in making more accurate diagnoses and to help clinicians in planning suitable treatments.
Aim of the study: This study was conducted to examine the cellular distribution of maspin in MEC and to evaluate the correlation of its expression with clinical data and histopathological grades of this type of malignancy.
Material and methods: Forty archival casespreviously diagnosed as mucoepidermoid carcinomas will be included in this study. Four micron sections were prepared for immunohistochemical staining with maspin antibodies. ANOVA and Pearson correlation tests were used for the statistical analysis of the results.
Results: In the present work, 75% of MEC cases exhibited maspin immunoreactivity. Low-grade tumors predominantly showed mainly intense (42.85%) and moderate (42.85%) staining, whereas high-grade tumors showed mainly weak (36.84%) and negative (47.3%) staining. Also positive correlation was found between maspin expression and histological grades of MEC as well as its clinical stages.
Conclusions:Mucoepidermoidcarcinoma expressmaspin with variable levels and cellular localization because it's highly expressed in low grade malignancy, with progressive loss of its expression as histological grades raise. It might be considered as a potential immunohistochemical biomarker that could be used to evaluate the tumor progression and predict the prognosis of this type of malignancy.