Low p27Kip1 expression is associated with poor prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: p27Kip1 is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor which regulates the progression of cells from the G1-into the S-phase in a cell cycle. Loss of p27Kip1 is associated with disease progression and an unfavorable outcome in several malignancies. The purpose of this study was to determine whether p27Kip1 expression can be a useful prognostic factor in oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients.

Patients And Methods: p27Kip1 expression was investigated by immunohistochemistry in tissue samples from 81 patients with oral SCC. The associations between p27Kip1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics and patient survival were also analyzed.

Results: Significant associations were found between p27Kip1 expression and histological grade (p = 0.010), therapeutic effect (p = 0.004) and patient outcome (p = 0.005). The 5-year survival rates of p27Kip1 high- and low-expression tumours were 80.4% and 56.7%, respectively, this difference being significant (p = 0.009) by log-rank test. Multivariate analysis revealed that reduced term survival was related to low levels of p27Kip1 expression (p = 0.008) and advanced stage (stages III and IV) (p = 0.003).

Conclusion: These results suggest that reduction of p27Kip1 plays an important role in the progression of oral SCC and is considered to be a useful prognostic factor in oral SCC patients.