Fatima Ghazi Aswad* 

Oral Pathology, Department of Oral Diagnosis, Tikrit College of Dentistry, Iraq.  

*Correspondence: Fatima Ghazi Aswad, B.D.S., M.Sc., Oral Pathology, Department of Oral Diagnosis, Tikrit College of  Dentistry, Iraq. E-mail: fatimagaswad@tu.edu.iq 

Received: August 08, 2024; Accepted: August 29, 2024; Published: September 06, 2024 

Citation: Aswad FG. Collagen Type IV Expression in Well, Moderate and Poorly Differentiated Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity. J Dent Oral Maxillofac Res. 2024;2(2):01-07. 

Copyright: © 2024 Aswad FG. This open distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons  Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

ABSTRACT 

Background: Squamous cell carcinoma(SCC) is the most important and common form of cancer of the oral cavity, Having a very high risk of local invasion, and nodal and distant metastases. Studying the mechanisms of invasion and metastasis of malignant cancers has had a crucial role in developing possible therapies tools. Type VI Collagen is expressed in a variety of tissues and abnormal expression is Related to the invasion and progression of different types of cancer in the body.  

Aim: To assess whether this protein (type IV collagen) may be employed as an early detector of the biological behavior of altered cells (neoplastic cell), the purpose of this research was to compare the (IV collagen) in the three grades of oral  squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).  

Materials and Methods: Type IV collagen staining brightness intensity and distribution mode among the histological grade of oscc, and Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact t-tests were employed to analyze differences between this grade of oscc statistically.  

Results: Well-differentiated(w)SCC had more elevated type IV staining than poorly-differentiated (p) SCC (P = 0.003). Compared to highly invasive SCCs, the expression appears more bright (P value = 0.002) and more continuous (P value =  0.002) in the early stage of cancer invasion.

Conclusion: The findings showed a correlation between the degree of SCC cells’  differentiation and type IV in a close direct manner, this correlation shows that when SCC cells differentiate less, they lose their capacity to basement membrane creation.

Keywords: Immunohistochemistry; Squamous cell carcinoma; Type IV collagen, Basement membrane; Oral mucosa.

INTRODUCTION  

Head and neck carcinomas (HNCs)in the world are considered  the sixth most common non-skin cancer, with an incidence  near 400,000 new cases and a 50% mortality annually [1].  Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), which may account for about 92.8% of all oral malignancies in the body represents  one of the most prevalent malignant oral cavity lesions  [2]. Although alcohol abuse and tobacco are considered  the primary risk factors, nowadays human papillomavirus  (HPV) has been linked to several tumor types development [1]. 

Migration of cancer cells to the spared at distant sites  which causes the basement membrane(BM) constituents  undergo to proteolytic destruction and ingredient  communication like collagen (COL IV), proteoglycans, and  glycoproteins this is an important feature of OSCC invasion  [3]. Collagen is crucial and significant of all of them because  it forms the structural framework of the (BM). The capacity  of cancer cells to transcend the compartment of the tissue is  a neoplastic invasion and metastases defining feature. Since  it is considered the first and most important barrier, the  neoplastic cells of different number types of carcinomas, as  well as cancer cells in lymph nodes and metastases to another  organ in the body have been linked to the loss and destruction  of the (BM) [2-4]. The COLIV keeps and maintains the  continuity and integrity of the BM that is affected by cancer  degradation of the tissue. Several research have exhibited  the appearance of COL IV in OSCC considered as an initial  occasion in carcinogenesis and understanding biological  behavior. A COLIV is a single and huge type of collagen  family that is found just only in the BM and compensates for  nearly 50% of all basement membranes [3]. MATERIAL AND METHODS  Samples 24 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks were used  in this study, COLIV immunohistochemistry staining was  examined in 8 cases (blocks) of each grade and one normal  oral mucosa as controls. Histology Staining by (H&E) was used microscopically to reevaluate the  grades of OSCC (Figure 1).