Double-staining of E-cadherin and podoplanin offer help in the pathological diagnosis of indecisive early-invasive oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Diagnosis of the early-invasive oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) can be challenged in biopsies, and immunohistochemistry is commonly used in such settings. A double immunohistochemical staining (DIHC) containing both E-cadherin (E-cad) and podoplanin antibodies were developed and its use in the diagnosis of limited cancer in the early-invasive was evaluated. In this study, the expressions of E-cadherin and podoplanin were checked by the way of DIHC in 214 oral biopsy tissues including normal oral epithelial (NOE), oral epithelial dysplasia (OED), squamous carcinoma in situ (SCIS), and OSCC. Meanwhile, 17 indecisive cases whose original diagnoses were SCIS incidentally suspicious infiltration had been checked. Tumor specimens presented a significant loss of expression of E-cad when compared with normal epithelium. In all NOE and 62.5% ofOED tissues, the expression of E-cad showed positive clearly and strongly in cell membrane, while podoplanin was showed negative.The expression of E-cad was showed positive in 35.6% of SCIS as the expressions of podoplanin became stronger. The expression of E-cad declined obviously and the expression of podoplanin became stronger in the 54.8% of OSCC. The expression of podoplanin was easier to be observed in the same slice due to the decreased expression of E-cad in malignant cell. By the same way, early-invasions were showed clearly in 5 cases of 17 indecisive cases. The decrease of E-cad and the increase of podoplanin had closely relationship with OSCC (<0.05). The cocktail double staining of E-cad and podoplanin may offer an objective index for the decision of the early-invasive oral squamous cell carcinoma.