OBJECTIVEThis study aims to examine the expression of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB)/B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) signal pathway and glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and provide references for the early diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of OSCC.

METHODSA total of 55 cases of OSCC and 10 cases of paracan- cerous mucosa were examined in this study. Their expressions of GSK-3β, NF-κB and Bcl-2 were detected using the SP me- thod immunohistochemistry. The correlation between their expression in OSCC and the clinical and pathological peculiarity of OSCC was analyzed.

RESULTSThe positive expression of GSK-3β, NF-κB, and Bcl-2 in OSCC were significantly higher than that in paracancerous mucosa (P < 0.01). The expression of GSK-3β, NF-κB, and Bcl-2 had no obvious relationship with patient's age, sex, and clinical stages of the disease (P > 0.05). The expression of Bcl-2 was significantly correlated with the degree of tumor differentiation (P < 0.05), whereas the expression of GSK-3β and NF-κB in OSCC had no obvious relation- ship with the degree of tumor differentiation (P > 0.05). Strong positive correlations were observed among the expressions of GSK-3β, NF-κB, and Bcl-2 (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe positive expression of GSK-3β, NF-κB, and Bcl-2 in OSCC are sig- nificantly higher than that in paracancerous mucosa. Detecting GSK-3β, NF-κB, and Bcl-2 in OSCC may have implications in the early diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of OSCC.