Intraoral Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma of Salivary Glands: Lack of Association Among Clinicopathological Features and Immunoexpression of c-erbB-2 in 29 Cases

Abstract

The association among clinicopathological features and c-erbB-2 oncoprotein expression was evaluated in twentynine cases of intra-oral mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC). MEC was prevalent in the female gender (79.3%), tumors were more frequent in ages between 21 and 40 years (48.3%), and the palate was the most commonly affected site (72.4%). Microscopically, 27 cases (93.1%) were classified as low grade of malignancy. The c-erbB-2 expression was considered positive in 9 (31%) cases and no significant association (p>0.05) was found among protein expression and gender nor between patient age and site or histological grade of the lesion. c-erbB-2 expression in MEC may reflect intrisinc biologic properties of salivary gland neoplasms and may be linked to histogenesis and cellular differentiaton.