Immunoexpression of DNA repair proteins in malignant salivar gland neoplasms
Head and Neck Neoplasms. DNA Repair. Immunohistochemistry
Salivary gland malignancies are a heterogeneous group of lesions, with varied morphological, immunohistochemical and molecular characteristics, which affect the major and minor salivary glands. DNA damage represents one of the main mechanisms responsible for the carcinogenesis of a variety of tumors. Naturally, cells have repair mechanisms for DNA damage that play a critical role in the protection and conservation of genetic material, as well as in the development of human neoplasms. A network of complementary DNA repair systems is recognized, notably the base excision (BER) and nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathways, as they are able to modulate the correction of a range of DNA damage. Few studies have evaluated NER and BER protein expression in salivary gland neoplasms. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the immunoexpression of APE1, XRCC1 and XPF proteins in four subtypes of malignant salivary gland neoplasms, namely: mucoepidermoid carcinoma, cystic adenoid carcinoma, acinar cell carcinoma and polymorphous adenocarcinoma, correlating it with the clinical staging, histopathological grading of malignancy, relapse rate and patient survival. This investigation may help to understand the role of these proteins in the pathogenesis of the lesions studied, envisaging their possible application as a therapeutic target or even as evasion markers of conventional cancer therapies.