Immunohistochemical Evaluation of Glucose Transporter Type 1 in Epithelial Dysplasia and Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignancy of the oral cavity and some of these have been documented in association or preceded by oral epithelial dysplasia (OED). Aggressive cancers with fast growth have demonstrated overexpression of some glucose transporters (GLUTs). Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the immunohistochemical expression of the glucose transporter, GLUT-1, in OEDs and OSCCs, seeking to better elucidate the biological behavior of neoplasias. Fifteen cases were selected this research of both lesions. Five areas were analyzed from each case by counting the percentage of positive cells at 400x magnification. Immunoreactivity of GLUT-1 was observed in 100% of the samples ranging from 54.2% to 86.2% for the OSCC and 73.9% to 97.4% for the OED. Statistical test revealed that there was greater overexpression of GLUT-1 in OED than the OSCC (p=0.01). It is believed the high expression of GLUT-1 may reflect the involvement of GLUT-1 in early stages of oral carcinogenesis.

The Role of Glucose Transporters in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…Whilst there were differences in methodology and staining thresholds for classification, the majority of patient samples were found to be GLUT-1 positive (1380/1709, 80.7%). There were 11 studies (579 patients) where all samples (100%) demonstrated positive staining for GLUT-1 [27,43,51,52,56,59,61,63,71,72,76,80] and a further 11 studies reported GLUT-1 expression in 70%-98% of tumour samples [23,53,55,60,64,[73][74][75][77][78][79]. GLUT-1 was significantly upregulated in tumours compared to adjacent healthy tissue.…”

“…[23,45,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][66][67][68][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80].…”

Efficacy of Hydroxytyrosol as Chemopreventive Agent on Induced Hamster Buccal Pouch Carcinogenesis

“…Oral epithelial dysplasia (OED) is a potentially malignant lesion, whose combination of cytological alterations and abnormal tissue architecture comprise the histopathological criteria for its diagnosis. This lesion demonstrates greater potential for undergoing malignant alteration to squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), when compared with normal epithelial tissue (1) . The incidence of oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) varies in different parts of the world and this difference is largely attributed to the exposure to risk factors specific to the area (2) .…”

Positron Emission Tomographic Imaging Elucidates the Complex Relationship Between Glucose Uptake and Tissue Blood Flow Mechanism in Squamous Cell Oral Cancer Patients

“…More than half of Chinese cancer patients have ScOC as the dominant disease [ 9 ]. Several studies have demonstrated that 2 biological factors – glucose uptake and tissue blood flow in ScOC (tBF-ScOC) – can assist in the diagnosis and treatment of ScOC [ 10 – 12 ]. Since fused 18 F-FDG with PET interprets the tumor metabolic rate of glucose, it directly measures the tumor aggressiveness simply by determining the tumor’s FDG uptake, thus enhancing the accuracy of diagnosis [ 11 , 12 ].…”

“…Several studies have demonstrated that 2 biological factors – glucose uptake and tissue blood flow in ScOC (tBF-ScOC) – can assist in the diagnosis and treatment of ScOC [ 10 – 12 ]. Since fused 18 F-FDG with PET interprets the tumor metabolic rate of glucose, it directly measures the tumor aggressiveness simply by determining the tumor’s FDG uptake, thus enhancing the accuracy of diagnosis [ 11 , 12 ]. For this purpose, a semi-quantitative parameter known as maximum standard uptake value (SUV↑) has been used previously in 18 F-FDG PET for prognosis and treatment guidance in various tumors [ 13 – 15 ].…”