Immunohistochemical Study of Retinoblastoma Protein Expression in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma According to Low and High Overexpression

The aim of this study was to determine the possible relevance of the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) expression in laryngeal cancer as a prognostic criterion and to analyse the correlation between the expression and clinical and pathological features vs. survival rates. The immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of pRb in 130 samples of laryngeal cancer and in 22 specimens of laryngeal nodules. pRb nuclear expression was detected in 90 (69%) out of 130 patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), and in three (13.6%) samples of laryngeal nodules. pRb expression correlated with high tumour stage. Patients with high expression of pRb (≥ 50%) had worse survival rates than patients with low expression (< 50%) in 3and 5-year overall survival observation. A multivariate analysis of survival showed that pRb expression was not an independent prognostic factor in laryngeal cancer. The expression of pRb in LSCC is connected with higher tumour stage.