Correlation of p53 Immunoexpression with Depth of Tumor in Microinvasive Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Introduction: “Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)” is a major health issue in India, the incidence of OSCC is 3-7 times more in developing countries than developed countries. OSCC is the ‘3rd most common cancer’ in India followed by “cervical and breast cancer”. One side of OSCC that has not much explore is the ‘microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma’ which is an early stage neoplasm without infiltration in the deeper tissues. There is no particular definition of “microinvasive oral squamous cell carcinoma (MIOSCC)” There are no specific guideline are present to categories the “microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma (MIOSCC)”. Most of the time the infiltrating neoplastic cells are masked under the background of the inflammatory cell infiltrate present connective tissue stroma. So this study is humble attempt to recognized and measured depth of invasion of infiltrative neoplastic cells to categories MIOSCC and to find better management protocol for it

Aim: This study aims to: Measure p53 immunoexpression in “microinvasive oral squamous cell carcinoma, evaluate the depth of invasion in MIOSCC in H & E stained section, and correlate the p53 immunoexpression with the depth of tumor in it.

Methodology: The 25 cases of “microinvasive oral squamous cell carcinoma” will be selected and 10 cases of “normal oral mucosa (NOM)” will be obtained from “gingiva and vestibular mucosa” as controls after extraction of impacted teeth. “The depth of tumor” will be measured from the “basement membrane or in areas of basement membrane loss, from an imaginary line reconstructing the basement membrane from the adjacent epithelium to the deepest point of invasion in connective tissue” by Leica DMLB2 research microscope with Leica Q-win standard software (Switzerland).

Results: The results show that the depth of invasion in MIOSCC, will be categorized the lesion and give the better guidelines for histological grading and treatment protocol for MIOSCC

Conclusion: There are no definite guidelines for histological grading and final treatment protocol for MIOSCC. The assessments of depth of tumor through p53 immunoexpression may be one of the criteria for grading in MIOSCC. Thus the correlation of p53 immunoexpression with the depth of tumor in MIOSCC helps to determine the treatment modalities of MIOSCC.