Protein Expression of MAGEB2 in Normal Oral Mucosa, Oral Epithelial Dysplasia, and Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Its Association with Clinicopathological Parameters

OBJECTIVE: To compare the expression of the MAGEB2 antibody in normal oral mucosa (NOM), oral epithelial dysplasia (OED), and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients, and to evaluate the association of MAGEB2 expression with clinicopathological characteristics and overall survival in OSCC patients. METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining with the MAGEB2 antibody was performed on 20 NOM, 40 OED, and 60 OSCC samples. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare MAGEB2 expression between NOM, OED, and OSCC tissues. The diagnostic accuracy of MAGEB2 in distinguishing NOM, OED, and OSCC tissues, and the prognostic accuracy of MAGEB2 in relation to socio-demographic and clinicopathological characteristics, were determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to determine the association between MAGEB2 expression and overall survival (OS) in OSCC patients. RESULT: MAGEB2 expression was observed in 61.7% of OSCC, 27.5% of OED, and 20.0% of NOM tissues. MAGEB2 expression was significantly higher in OSCC compared to OED and NOM tissues (p < 0.05). However, no significant difference was found between MAGEB2 expression in NOM and OED. MAGEB2 was able to distinguish OSCC from OED tissue with 63.3% sensitivity and 72.5% specificity. A significant association between MAGEB2 expression and age was observed, whereas no associations were found with other socio-demographic or clinicopathological characteristics, or with overall survival (OS) in OSCC patients. However, a trend toward better OS was noted in OSCC patients with high MAGEB2 expression. CONCLUSION: MAGEB2 is a potential biomarker in cancer whereby its protein expression is seen highest in oral cancer.