An increasing incidence of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in individuals younger than 45 years has been observed in recent years. OSCC in younger patients differs in terms of biological behavior and prognosis with the disease being more aggressive than in older patients. The aim of this study was to analyze the immunohistochemical expression of galectins-3 and -7 in 32 cases of OSCC in young patients and to correlate this expression with clinical and morphological parameters. All cases of OSCC of the sample were diagnosed at oncology referral hospitals in Paraíba, Brazil, between 2002 and 2012. Clinical data were obtained from the patient records. Histological malignancy grading systems proposed by Bryne et al. (J Pathol 166:375-381, 1992) and the World Health Organization (In: Pathology and genetics of head and neck tumours: Word Health Organization classification of tumours, 2005) were used for morphological analysis. Immunohistochemistry was performed by the streptavidin-biotin technique using anti-galectin-3 and -7 antibodies. The results were analyzed statistically by the Chi-squared and Fisher exact tests (p < 0.05). Immunoexpression of galectin-3 was observed in 65.6 % of the cases analyzed, but showed no significant association with any of the variables studied (clinical staging; histological malignancy grading systems). Immunoexpression of galectin-7 was observed in 96.9 % of cases and was significantly associated with histological malignancy grading systems (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the results suggest the use of galectin-7 as marker of biological behavior and tumor progression in OSCC in young patients.
Keywords: Galectins; Immunohistochemistry; Oral squamous cell carcinoma; Young adult.