Association of Vimentin Expression in Tumor Cells with Demographic Parameters and TNM Staging of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background: The development of oral cancer has been associated with a number of risk factors. Thus, the search for novel molecular markers that can forecast the course of the malignancy and possible therapeutic targets is urgent. Vimentin has been found to be strongly associated with the development of OSCC (oral squamous cell carcinoma). The purpose of this research is to determine reliable histologic prognostic markers and examine the association between vimentin expression and TNM Staging along with demographic parameters in OSCC. Objectives: To see the association of vimentin expression in tumor cells with TNM staging and demographic parameters of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the Department of Pathology, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh from September 2021 to August 2023. A total of 51 histologically diagnosed cases of OSCC were selected for the study. Among these, 25 cases were resected tumor specimens and 26 were oral mucosal biopsy. Paraffin blocks and slides were prepared after grossing. H&E and IHC staining were done and analyzed accordingly. All cases were categorized into groups according to TNM staging. The statistical analysis was carried out using the SPSS version 26. Result: In this study, there was no statistically significant association between vimentin expression and patients’ demographic characteristics like age and sex. Also, there is no significant association between Vimentin expression and TNM staging of tumor. Association between Lymph node status and Vimentin immunoreactivity was statistically insignificant as well. Discussion: This study revealed that there is no association of vimentin with patient age, sex and TNM stage. So, these parameters should be used in addition to conventional grading in the case of evaluation of OSCC cases for predicting patient outcomes as well as planning further management.