Immunohistochemical Expression of XIAP in Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma

Objective: The X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) immunohistochemical expression was employed to assess the anti-apoptotic activity of mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) in relation to different clinicopathological variables to understand if XIAP immunoexpression could reflect the histologic grade and the biologic activity and prognosis in MEC patients.

Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was accomplished on 16 MEC cases. The worked MEC cases involved the three histologic grades, low, intermediate, and high. Assessement of XIAP immunoexpression was made in relation to different clinicopathological parameters. The analysis of data was done by Pearson`s Chi-square test. Pearson correlation co-efficiency test was used to test the association between the different variables. The P‐value <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

Results: There were statistically significant differences in XIAP immunoexpression in relation to the following parameters; the TNM clinical stage (P=0.036), and the histologic grade (P=0.008). Conversely, the immunoexpression of XIAP was not significantly correlated with patients’ age (P=0.141), patients` gender (P= 0.471), and the anatomical site of the tumor (P=0.827) in MEC cases.

Conclusion: The immunoexpression of XIAP correlates with histologic grading of MEC. Additionally, XIAP immunoexpression reflects the clinical and biological behavior of MEC.