The impact of proliferation and cancer stem cell upon the resistence to chemotherapy in salivary mucopepidermoid carcinoma

Abstract

Background and aim: Mucoepidermoid carcinoma is a common salivary tumor that affects both adults and children. Proliferation is one of the most fundamental biological processes of growth and maintenance of tissue homeostasis. CD-44 may be used as an indicator of aggressive behavior of some human malignancy. Multidrug resistance is one of the major obstacles for successful cancer chemotherapy. The present study was carried out for evaluation of the biological rules and the clinicopathological significance of Ki-67, CD-44 and MDR-1 expression in the different histopathological grades of MECs.

Patients and methods: Eighty paraffin embedded MEC tissues were collected and classified to three groups according to their histological grades. Tissue sections were stained with Ki-67, CD-44 and MDR-1 then examined microscopically and analyzed
statistically.

Result: High grade MEC cases showed the highest expression for Ki-67, CD-44 and MDR-1. Additionally, significant differences were found between the histopathological grades as well as between lymph node stages of the studied cases and the expression of the three utilized markers.

Conclusion: Ki-67, CD-44 and MDR-1can be used to evaluate the degree of differentiation and to predict the prognosis of MECs, furthermore, high grade MEC cases with high proliferative indices might be resistant to chemotherapy.