Higher Ki67 expression in fibroblast like cells at invasive front indicates better clinical outcomes in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients.

In this study, we aimed to elucidate the prognosis value of Ki67 spatial expression in OSCC. Immunohistochemical expression of Ki67 in tumor cells (TCs) and fibroblast like cells (FLCs) at center of tumor (CT) and invasive front (IF) was evaluated in 109 OSCC patients. Correlations of Ki67 expressions with clinicopathological parameters were analyzed by Chi-square test, and survival curves were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier methods. Furthermore, univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to assess the diagnostic values of Ki67 expression by the Cox regression model. Ki 67 expression in TCs was much higher than in FLCs both at CT and IF, but Ki67 in TCs was simultaneously higher at CT than that at IF, which was converse to Ki67 in FLCs. Additionally, high Ki67 expression in FLCs at IF was significantly associated with poor tumor differentiation, DOI and WPOI, but no correlations were found in TCs. Moreover, patients with higher Ki67 expression in TCs at CT had significantly increased risk for OS and DFS. On contrary, higher Ki67 expression in FLCs at IF was correlated with better OS and DFS. Furthermore, Cox multivariate analysis revealed that Ki67 in FLCs at IF couldn't be an independent prognostic factor for OSCC patients. These results show that higher Ki67 expression in FLCs at invasive front indicated better clinical outcomes for OSCC patients. PMID: 30341240 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Bioscience Reports - Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Tags: Biosci Rep Source Type: research