Expression of β-catenin in oral leukoplakia and oral submucous fibrosis

BACKGROUND: Oral potentially malignant disorders have increased propensity to turn malignant than its apparently normal counterparts. Histopathological examination, although gold standard, needs adjunct technique to give accurate diagnosis. Immunohistochemistry has proved to be a promising adjunct to aid in the diagnosis so far. The quest for a definitive marker is still on. Beta-catenin (β-catenin), a structural protein has been evaluated to identify its likely role in malignant transformation of potentially malignant lesions and possibly designate it as one of the identifiable signature molecules in the transformation. AIM AND OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and estimate the expression of β-catenin in different grades of dysplasia, oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) and normal mucosa and compare the same. METHODOLOGY: A total number of 40 cases including different grades of dysplasia, OSMF and normal mucosa were immunohistochemically stained, location and intensity of its expression were evaluated for β-catenin. The results were statistically analyzed using the one-way analysis of variance and Chi-square test. RESULTS: The expression of β-Catenin in the cytoplasm as well as in the nucleus increased from mild-to-moderate dysplasia to OSMF and to severe epithelial dysplasia in an increasing order. The expression is seen to translocate from membranous to cytoplasm to nucleus indicating a proliferative potential in these group of lesions. CONCLUSION: β-catenin is a promising marker which indicates the malignant transformation potential in the higher grades of dysplasia and OSMF.