Oral squamous cells carcinoma (OSCC) shows unfavorable prognosis due to its invasion potential around the neighboring tissues and the elevated incidence of metastasis. AIM: the present paper aims at analyzing the immunohistochemical expression of the nm23 protein in metastatic and non-metastatic SCCs of tongue. METHODS: the immuno-expression to the nm23-hl protein was diagnosed in 35 tongue SCC (15 of which exhibiting metastasis). Nm23-hl immuno-scores were assigned as follow: score 0 = absent, 1 = focal and 2 = diffuse expression. RESULTS: The Fisher's exact test was performed and there was no statistical difference between the nm23-hl immuno-scores and the tongue SCCs studied cases (p=0.365), although 66.7% of metastatic cases presented negative nm23-hl expression. CONCLUSIONS: Protein nm23 was not associated with a positiveness for tongue SCC without metastasis. Thus, several others factors inherent to host and malignancy can be associated with the mechanisms that suppress the metastatic process in this disease.
tongue squamous cell carcinoma; immunohistochemistry; nm23 protein
