CANCER

Objective. To learn the expression level of cell adhesion markers (E-cadherin and β-catenin) in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) for establishing clinical and morphological connections and analyzing their prognostic meaning of relation with regional metastases. Design. Expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin, epithelial cell adhesion molecules was examined by using immunohistochemical analysis (E-cadherin, clon EP700Y, Lab Vision, β-catenin, clon E247, Lab Vision and visualization system EnVision, Dako Cytomation), both traditional histological parameters and the correlation of these markers with the histologically verified presence of regional metastases have been determined. Subjects. The study of 72 patients was comprised with OSCC. They were divided into two groups with regional metastases (T3N1-3M0)- 38 patients and without metastases (T3N0M0)- 34 patients. Paraffin-embedded material of primary tumors was used. Results. Obtained information is presented in the table of markers ` indexes expression. The difference of E-cadherin expression markers is established in groups with and without metastases. Differences between groups are significant statistically (p<0.001). The reliable indirect correlated connection has been established between these parameters (r=+0,471). The difference of β-catenin expression markers is established in group