Abstract
BACKGROUND: Oral squamous cell carcinoma is a common cancer of head and neck region with poor prognosis and may sometimes show a premalignant stage. Cell-cell adhesion molecules play an important role in the process of malignant transformation. E-cadherin, a cell-to-cell adhesion molecule, plays a crucial role in maintaining cell polarity and adhesion of epithelial cells. AIMS: To assess the expression of E-cadherin in various grades of oral epithelial dysplasia and oral squamous cells carcinoma and compare it to unremarkable oral mucosa. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study comprised a total sample size of 80 with 10 cases of unremarkable oral mucosa which is the control group, 40 cases of oral epithelial dysplasia and 30 cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma. One section was stained with haematoxylin and eosin to confirm the histopathological diagnosis and other section was stained immunohistochemically with E-cadherin. RESULTS: The study found that E-cadherin expression was strongly positive in unremarkable mucosal epithelium, reduced in oral epithelial dysplasia, and gradually decreased as it progressed to oral squamous cell carcinoma. These findings were found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The study found a correlation between E-cadherin expression loss and oral squamous cell carcinoma progression, suggesting that E-cadherin can serve as a diagnostic biomarker for malignant transformation of oral epithelial dysplasia and predict disease prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma.