ABSTRACT

Present study was conducted to evaluate the expression and immunolocalization of Substance P (SP) in different grades of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC), Breast Cancer (BC), Colorectal Cancer (CRC) and Endometrial Cancer (EC).

Patients and Methods: 40 OSCC, 22 BC, 30 CRC and 53 EC biopsies were immunohistochemically analyzed with SP antibody. 14 cases (35%) were well differentiated (WD), 14 cases (35%) moderately differentiated (MD) and 12 cases (30%) poorly differentiated (PD) OSCC. 2 cases (9%) were WD, 4 (18%) were MD and 16 (73%) were PD. There were 8 cases (27%) of PD, 14 (46%) MD and 8 cases (27%) of  WD- CRC included in this study. In EC, there were 53 cases, 12 (22.69%) WD, 37 (67.8%) MD, 4 (75.4%) PD cases.

Results: 65% of the OSCC, 55% of BC, all cases of CRC and EC were positive for SP. 8% of WD, 93% of MD, 100% PD were SP-positive in OSCC; 50% WD, 75% MD, 50% PD cases were SP-positive in BC; all cases of CRC and EC were SP-positive. Regarding the intensity of SP stain, SP expression was highest (+3) in PD-OSCC, PD-BC, all CRC and PD-EC and vice versa. Expression increased with an increasing grade of tumor in all except CRC.

Conclusions: An association between grade of tumor and SP expression was observed in OSCC, BC and EC while no difference was observed in CRC. SP expression was in the increasing order from well to moderately differentiated cases in OSCC, BC and EC while it was reverse in CRC. We also suggest SP /NK-1R system as a potential therapeutic strategy to inhibit and manage OSCC, BC and EC.

Key words: Breast carcinoma, Oral squamous cell carcinoma, Colorectal carcinoma, Substance P, neurokinin 1 receptor