Runt-related transcription factor (RUNX) 3 is well known as a developmental regulators, as well as candidate tumor suppressor gene in human breast cancer, gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, and so on. The present study was aimed to analyze the expression of RUNX3 protein in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) from Korean patients. The immunohistochemical stain was performed with 14 normal oral mucosa (NOM) and 25 OSCCs, and statistical analysis was carried out to find out the correlation between the expression of RUNX and clinicopathological parameters of OSCC patients. In OSCC, the expression of RUNX3 protein was found to increase more than in NOM. Moreover, in the univariate correlation analysis, the gender, regional lymph node metastasis, and histopathologic differentiation of OSCC patients were positively correlated with the expression of RUNX3 (p<0.05). These results indicate that RUNX3 can play a role as an oncogene in OSCC, in contrast to some reports on RUNX3 in other human cancers. In addition, RUNX3 may be considered as new malignant biomarker of OSCC.

Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION
 Ⅱ. MATERIALS AND METHODS
  1. Patients and tissue samples
 Ⅲ. METHOD
  1. H/E stain and immunohistochemical stain
  2. Evaluation of immunohistochemical stain
  3. Statistical Analysis
 Ⅳ. RESULTS
  1. RUNX3 Expression in NOM and OSCC
  2. Correlation between RUNX3 expression and theclinicopathological parameters of OSCC patients
 Ⅴ. DISCUSSION
 Ⅵ. REFERENCES

• 조성대(Departments of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry and Institute of Oral Bioscience, BK21 Project, Chonbuk National University) | Sung Dae Cho
• 조남표(Departments of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry and Institute of Oral Bioscience, BK21 Project, Chonbuk National University) | Nam Pyo Cho
• 박혜련(Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Yangsan Campus of Pusan National University) | Hae Ryoun Park
• 유미현(Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Yangsan Campus of Pusan National University) | Mi Heon Ryu correspondence