Immunoexpression of SOX‐2 in oral leukoplakia.

Objective: This study was conducted to correlate and compare the immunoexpression of sex‐determining region Y‐box 2 (SOX‐2) in oral leukoplakia (OL) lesions with that in normal buccal mucosa (control). Materials and Methods: In this observational study, OL with low‐risk (n = 34) and high‐risk (n = 33) dysplasia and control samples (n = 25) were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis for SOX‐2. In the epithelium, SOX‐2 positive and negative cells, as well as semiautomatic segmentation of the immunopositive nuclear area were counted. Statistical tests included chi‐square, one‐way analysis of variance, Tukey, and Games‐Howell. The level of significance was 5%. Results: Groups with OL lesions (low and high‐risk) showed higher mean numbers of SOX‐2 positive cells (63.47 ± 25.70 and 68.18 ± 21.17) compared to the control group (45.85 ± 27.38) (p = 0.00). Groups with OL lesions (low and high‐risk) exhibited higher mean positive nuclear area (0.24 ± 0.47 and 1.09 ± 2.06) compared to the control group (0.00 ± 0.01) (p = 0.01). Conclusion: Oral leukoplakia lesions showed a higher expression of SOX‐2, suggesting its contribution to the pathogenesis of OL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]