Prognostic Significance of Bax and Bcl-2 Expressions in Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma of Major and Minor Salivary Glands of Nasal and Oral Epithelium

ABSTRACT

Two apoptosis-related proteins Bax and Bcl-2 in bcl-2 gene family were studied in thirty-one randomly selected patients with T1 to T4 adenoid cystic carcinoma of the major salivary glands and minor glands of oral and nasal mucosa to investigate their prognostic value. Sections from diagnostic, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens were stained immunohistochemically to detect Bax and Bcl-2 protein. No correlation was found between Bcl-2 and Bax expression. Bax expression correlated negatively with N-classification (p=0.0132). Tumors with low Bax expression (p=0.0088) or high Bcl-2 expression (p=0.0054) correlated with a shorter disease-free period. The combined parameters Bcl-2 - Bax and Ki-67 - Bax, showed an enhanced prognostic significance (p=0.002 respectively). Our investigation revealed that Bax and Bcl-2 expression have prognostic value in ACC. The combined evaluation between these two proteins or between Ki-67 and Bax expression revealed an enhanced prognostic potential.