Prognostic New Marker (Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7) in Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Aim: Despite advances in the treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), its prognosis is still poor. Therefore, it is important to identify the prognostic factors. The aim was to investigate the level of bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) in SCC of tongue and its relationship with some clinicopathologic parameters.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 128 patients with primary SCC of tongue were evaluated. Data were extracted and paraffin blocks were retrieved from the archives of Emam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran, and immunohistochemistry staining was done for the detection of marker. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 and through chi-square and logistic regression tests.
Results: The highest level of BMP7 expression was 54% in men (p = 0.044), 70% in the group aged under 45 years (p = 0.001), 68.2% in patients with lymph node metastasis (p < 0.001), and 100% in those with poorly differentiated tumors (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, the presence of lymph node metastasis and increased histopathological grade associated with 5.7 fold and 4.3 fold increase in the odds ratio (OR) of BMP7 expression respectively.
Conclusion: Based on the results, there was a significant relationship between BMP7 expression and poor cellular differentiation and lymph node metastasis, so this marker could be a new prognostic marker in oral cancer.
Clinical Significance: This new marker could help clinicians to determine the prognosis of oral cancer, so it has an effect on optimal treatment.