Loss of intercellular substance antigens in oral hyperkeratosis, epithelial dysplasia, and squamous cell carcinoma.

Tissues from 20 oral squamous cell carcinomas and 32 leukoplakic lesions were investigated for the presence of intercellular substance antigens by the indirect immunofluorescent technique using sera from patients with proven pemphigus vulgaris. The leukoplakic lesions included 19 hyperkeratoses without histologic evidence of dysplasia and 13 hyperkeratoses with varying degrees of epithelial dysplasia. Oral tissues from 20 healthy subjects were included as a control group. The great majority of squamous cell carcinomas (95%) showed partial or complete loss of the intercellular substance antigen reactivity. Similarly, hyperkeratoses with dysplasia demonstrated, in 92% of the cases, decreased or complete absence of intercellular substance antigen reactivity. Furthermore, the degree of antigenic loss seemed to be directly related to the degree of cellular anaplasia. On the other hand, in the hyperkeratosis group without histologic signs of epithelial dysplasia, retention of normal intercellular substance antigenic pattern was observed in 73.7% of the cases as compared to the control specimens. The authors suggest that further studies are necessary to assess what value lies in determining the loss of epithelial antigens in predicting the malignant potential of dysplastic oral epithelium.