Discussion
CD24 expression is significantly upregulated in blood and tissue samples in OSCC. In addition, CD24 overexpression is highly associated with adverse prognostic parameters such as lymph node involvement, advanced clinical stages and worse overall survival. Our findings have important implications in future practice, overexpression of CD24 in OSCC was associated with poor prognosis correlating to the clinical findings, large-scale comprehensive studies are needed further to confirm our findings. In addition to histological features, CD24 can be used as marker for OSCC.
Methods
In this prospective study, the expression of CD24 was evaluated in 20 blood (3 ml) and tissue samples of OSCC specimens by quantitative RT-PCR. Student's t-test was used for statistical analysis. The significance level was considered <0.05.
Results
CD24 was found to be upregulated amongst the cases for both the tissue and the blood. CD24 was statistically significant with P < 0.05. Fold change was calculated to assess the quantity of the difference in expression amongst cases when compared to controls. Results were supportive of CD24 being a reliable biomarker, hence blood samples can also be used in screening and diagnosis of OSCC.