Expressions of ezrin, ERK, STAT3, and AKT in tongue cancer and association with tumor characteristics and patient survival

Abstract

Background: Ezrin, ERK, STAT3, and AKT are proteins that are overexpressed in various types of cancer, although their expressions in tongue cancer has received less focus. This study aimed to address associations between the expression levels of these proteins and with characteristics of the tumor and patient survival. Methods: We performed immunohistochemical staining of ezrin, ERK, STAT3, and AKT in tumors from patients with tongue carcinoma in situ (CIS, n = 17) and tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC, n = 46). Statistical differences between the SCC versus the CIS cohorts were estimated by calculations of bivariate odds ratios of low versus high expression of the proteins. Fisher's exact tests were used to appraise interassociations between the proteins, as well as expression levels versus patient and tumor characteristics. Survival based on Kaplan–Meier statistics in combination log-rank tests were used to address potential effects of the patient and tumor characteristics versus 5-year survival rate. Results: The relative high: low expression of all four proteins in the two cohorts differed, and particularly ERK was markedly overexpressed in the SCC versus the CIS cohort (odds ratio = 45.3, p