[Expression of Skp2 and p27 proteins in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and their significances].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of Skp2 and p27 and their association with clinical, histologic characteristics and prognosis in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), the correlation between expression of Skp2 and p27 in LSCC. METHOD: Skp2 protein and p27 protein were examined by using immunohistochemical SP staining method in 20 cases of normal laryngeal tissues (NLT), 27 cases of laryngeal precancerous lesion (LPL) and 27 cases of LSCC. RESULT: The positive rate of Skp2 in NLT, LPL and LSCC were 10.00% (2/20), 37.04% (10/27) and 41.43% (29/70), respectively. The positive rates in the last two groups were higher than the first one. The Skp2 protein expression in LSCC was positively associated with the clinical stage and lymph node metastasis. The positive rate of p27 protein in NLT and LSCC were 85.00% (17/20) and 48.57% (34/70), respectively, and significant difference was found between two groups. The p27 protein expression was inversely associated with lymph node metastasis. Skp2 was inversely associated-with expression of p27 in LSCC. The survival rate of patients with both Skp2 positive expression and negative expression of p27 was significantly lower than that of other cases. CONCLUSION: Skp2 expression might play an important role in the development and progression of LSCC via cyclin-depended kinase inhibitor p27 proteolysis, and the combined examination of Skp2 and p27 expression have a great significance in estimating prognosis of patients with LSCC.