Cytoskeletal and membrane bound antigens in human oral normal and malignant keratinocytes: an intensity of staining analysis.

In this study, we tested the hypothesis that a significant difference exists in the integrated optical density (IOD) of membrane and cytoplasmic antigens in monolayer keratinocytes cultures. Oral normal and two malignant (SCC15 and SCC25) keratinocyte cultures were stained with antibodies specific for E-cadherin, beta-catenin, beta-1 integrin, cytokeratin (CK) 14, CK19, CK10/11 and involucrin. The IOD recorded (n = 12) was analyzed for significant differences using a two-way analysis of variance (significance level set at alpha = 0.05); antibodies and cell cultures were grouped according to Tukey's Group Comparison post-test. The majority of normal cell cultures exhibited E-cadherin, beta-catenin, involucrin and beta-1 integrin IOD values significantly higher than the two SCC cell lines. No definite staining pattern distinguished normal and malignant cells in relation to cytokeratins 14, 19 and 10/11. Our observations suggest that IOD measures constitute a good predictor of antigen steady state levels in monolayer cell cultures. According to these observations, SCC cell lines and normal cells appear to differ in the expression of E-cadherin, beta-catenin, beta-1 integrin and involucrin, although some variability within normal cells can also be observed.