Visfatin is a pro-inflammatory cytokine, which is thought to play a central role in systemic inflammation and the pathogenesis of obesity related diseases. Only a few studies investigated the effect of visfatin on human cancers. Furthermore, there have been no studies on the association between the expression of visfatin in OSCC tissue and its effect on OSCC patients. Hence, the present study analyzed the expression of visfatin in OSCC from Korean patients. Immunohistochemistry for visfatin was performed using 12 normal oral mucosas (NOM), 16 oral leukoplakias (with/without dysplasia), and 58 OSCC patients samples. Immunoreactivity was semi-quantitatively scored and the correlation between the expression of visfatin and clinicopathological parameters of OSCC patients was analyzed. The immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that the expression level of visfatin increased in OSCC alone (p<0.05). Moreover, the immunoexpression score of visfatin was significantly correlated with TNM stage of OSCC patients. Our findings suggested that visfatin can play a certain role in the pathogenesis of OSCC. In addition, visfatin was associated with the tumor progression of OSCC patients and may act as independent biomarker of OSCC.

• Se-Ra Park(Department of Dental Pharmacology, School of Dentistry) | 박세라
• Hye-Yeon Han(Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Institute of Translational Dental Sciences) | 한혜연
• Jiyeon Kim(Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Dental Research Institute) | 김지연
• Moon-Kyoung Bae(Department of Oral Physiology, School of Dentistry4), Pusan National University Busandaehak-ro 49, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea, Republic of, 626-870, South Korea) | 배문경
• Mi Heon Ryu(Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Institute of Translational Dental Sciences) | 유미현 Corresponding author
• Soo-Kyung Bae(Department of Dental Pharmacology, School of Dentistry) | 배수경 Corresponding author