Prognostic value of p53 expression and histopathological parameters in squamous cell carcinoma of oral tongue

The TNM staging system is helpful but not enough to determine prognosis of the patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue. T-stage alone is not suggestive for prediction of occult nodal metastases. For this reason, histopathological examination of 70 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue was done retrospectively. The histological differentiation, tumour thickness, perineural and lymphovascular space invasions, the amount of lymphocyte infiltration and pattern of tumour invasion were examined. Immunohistochemical examination was used to determine p53 immunoreactivity as well. The effect of these histopathological parameters and p53 immunoreactivity on nodal metastases and locoregional recurrence were analyzed using the chi-squared test. In terms of nodal metastases the only statistically significant difference between the two groups was tumour thickness, either 9 mm (p<0.05, X 2 = 17.182). Tumour thickness, perineural invasion, lymphovascular space invasion, the amount of lymphocyte infiltration all correlated statistically with locoregional recurrence (p<0.05, X 2 = 6.293 for tumour thickness; p<0.06, p = 0.054 for perineural invasion; p<0.05, X 2 = 8.689 for lymphovascular space invasion; p<0.05, X 2 = 5.320 for lymphocyte infiltration). The immunoreactivity of p53 correlated significantly with larger primary tumour size (p<0.05, X 2 = 5.440, lymph node metastases (p<0.05, X 2 = 4.093) and with pathological tumour stage (p<0.05, X 2 = 5.713). These results reveal that the above-mentioned histological parameters and p53 determination could be used for handling a specimen from an anterior tongue squamous cell carcinoma.