BAG-1 expression correlates highly with the malignant potential in early lesions (T1 and T2) of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

BAG-1 is a Bcl-2-binding protein that functions as an anti-apoptotic molecule. In this report we show a possible correlation between BAG-1 expression levels and the probability of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) progression. We investigated BAG-1 expression levels in 22 patients diagnosed with early lesions (T1 and T2) of oral SCCs using immunohistochemistry and western blotting. High steady-state levels of BAG-1 were detected in 13 out of 22 cases (59%). High BAG-1 expression was observed more frequently in cases with nodal metastasis (89%) than in those without nodal metastasis (38%) (P<0. 03), suggesting that BAG-1 expression levels may correlate with the pathological stage of oral SCCs. Furthermore, BAG-1 expression levels correlated with the WHO grade, i.e. 45% in grade-I cases as opposed to 72% in grade-II cases (P<0.02). These data suggest that an analysis of BAG-1 expression may be useful in establishing a prognosis for patients with oral SCCs, and especially in predicting the metastatic potential of SSCs.