TY - JOUR T1 - Significance of <em>P16<sup>INK4A</sup></em> Expression and <em>PTEN</em> Loss of Heterozygosity in Human Papilloma Virus-related Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma JF - Anticancer Research JO - Anticancer Res SP - 6355 LP - 6366 DO - 10.21873/anticanres.14656 VL - 40 IS - 11 AU - VALDENIRA DE JESUS OLIVEIRA KATO AU - MICHELLE CARVALHO DE ABREU AU - ALBERTO MITSUYUKI DE BRITO KATO AU - LUCAS LACERDA DE SOUZA AU - FLAVIA SIROTHEAU CORREA PONTES AU - CARLA DE CASTRO SANT'ANNA AU - ARNALDO GONÇALVES, JUNIOR AU - HÉLDER ANTÔNIO REBELO PONTES AU - ANDRE SALIM KHAYAT AU - ROMMEL MARIO RODRIGUEZ BURBANO Y1 - 2020/11/01 UR - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/40/11/6355.abstract N2 - Background/Aim: p16 and PTEN are tumor suppressor genes. Loss of these molecules in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has been studied worldwide. In this study, we explored whether p16 cooperates with inactive PTEN during the pathogenesis of OSCC, especially in regard to tumor aggressiveness and proliferation. Materials and Methods: Immunocytochemistry and western blot analysis were used to examine the levels of p16 and PTEN. Sequencing analysis was performed to identify mutations in the PTEN gene and HPV infection. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was used to examine the presence of the PTEN locus. Results: PTEN analysis showed high positivity in T4 samples. HPV-positive tumors correlated with tabagism, tumor size 3 and 4, disease stages 3 and 4, presence of lymph node metastasis (N1) and poor differentiation. Immunoexpression of p16 was strongly correlated with the presence of HPV. Conclusion: PTEN demonstrated a higher reactivity in advanced disease stages and p16 was strongly associated with HPV. Viral presence decreases tumor aggressiveness. Patients with advanced stage lesions demonstrated lower survival rate. ER -