Minichromosome maintenance protein 5 - a promising prognostic marker of oral epithelial dysplasias and oral squamous cell carcinomas

• Published in: Journal of oral and maxillofacial pathology : JOMFP Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 655 - 662
• Main Authors: Mathew, Lisha, Janardhanan, Mahija, Suresh, Rakesh, Savithri, Vindhya, Aravind, Thara, Aiswarya, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 01.10.2023; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
• Subjects: Biomarkers; Cancer; Diagnosis; Dysplasia; Hyperplasia; Labeling; MCM5 protein; Oncology, Experimental; Oral cancer; Oral carcinoma; Oral squamous cell carcinoma; Original; Prognosis; Proteins; Squamous cell carcinoma; Statistical analysis; Epithelial dysplasia; MCM5; oral squamous cell carcinoma
• ISSN: 0973-029X; 1998-393X
• DOI: 10.4103/jomfp.jomfp_456_23

Early diagnosis is the single most effective means of reducing the mortality rate of oral cancer. This study was undertaken to assess the expression of minichromosome maintenance protein 5 (MCM5) in oral epithelial dysplasias and oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) and to evaluate their possible role as a biomarker for early diagnosis and prognosis of OSCC. A retrospective cross-sectional study. The study was conducted to assess the expression of MCM5 immunohistochemically in the tissue samples of oral epithelial dysplasias ( = 27) and OSCCs ( = 30) diagnosed between 2014 and 2019. The difference in the mean nuclear labelling index (LI) between the groups and the subgroups was analysed statistically using the Kruskal-Wallis test and the test, and the Dunn-Bonferroni multiple comparison analysis was conducted for pairwise comparison between the four main groups and the subgroups. The association between mean MCM5 LI and clinicopathological parameters was analysed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. A progressive increase in the nuclear expression of MCM5 protein ( -value <0.001) was noticed from normal oral mucosa through oral epithelial hyperplasia and oral epithelial dysplasia to OSCC. A significant correlation was also observed between the mean nuclear MCM5 LI of OSCC and TNM staging (R = 0.268, = 0.029). Our findings suggest that MCM5 may be of great value in assessing the malignant potential of dysplastic lesions and may serve as biomarker of utility in the early diagnosis and prognosis of OSCC.