Reduced γ-Catenin Expression and Poor Survival in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objective To investigate whether reduced expression of α-, β-, or γ-catenin predicts poor survival in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Design Immunohistochemical analyses of a retrospective cohort. Setting University-affiliated hospital. Patients One hundred twenty-four patients with OSCC. Main Outcome Measure The prognostic value of γ-catenin expression on disease-specific survival in different T and N category groups in patients with OSCC. Results Reduced expression of γ-catenin correlated with poor tumor differentiation of OSCC ( P  = .04). Patients with reduced γ-catenin expression in the primary tumor had significantly more frequent lymph node metastasis than did patients with normal γ-catenin expression ( P  = . 03). Reduced expression of γ-catenin (004) but not of α-catenin ( P  = .25) or β-catenin ( P  = .48) correlated with poor clinical outcome. Reduced γ-catenin expression predicted poor disease-specific survival also in the 92 patients with T1 or T2 tumors ( P  = . 02). In multivariate analysis, advanced T category ( P  = . 04), neck lymph node metastases ( P  = . 01), and reduced γ-catenin expression ( P  = . 05) were independently related to poor survival. Conclusions Reduced expression of γ-catenin was associated with poor differentiation of OSCC, with neck lymph node metastases, and, more importantly, with poor disease-specific survival. Loss of γ-catenin expression seems to contribute to metastatic properties of OSCC. Evaluation of the expression pattern of γ-catenin may be useful for predicting outcome in patients with OSCC.