• Neelakshi Goyal, Meeta Singh, Nishant Sagar, Nita Khurana, and Ishwar Singh.
• Department of Pathology, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India.
• Indian J Med Res. 2021 Apr 1; 153 (4): 484-491.

Background & ObjectivesLingual squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) pose a major public health burden in India. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the conversion of an epithelial cell to a mesenchymal phenotype at the invasive front (IF) enhancing invasiveness of these cells which may be studied using immunohistochemistry. The objective of this study was to assess the expression of E-cadherin and vimentin at the IF, and their correlation with the histological risk assessment score, clinicopathological parameters and lymph node metastasis.MethodsThirty consecutive untreated patients diagnosed as lingual SCC who underwent hemiglossectomy over one year formed the study group. The immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin and vimentin in the periphery as well as the centre of tumour islands was correlated with clinicopathological parameters, Brandwein-Gensler risk assessment score and lymph node metastasis, along with a correlation between the coexpression of two markers at the IF.ResultsLoss of E-cadherin expression was seen at IF in 83.3 per cent (25/30) cases. Out of these, 20 per cent (5/25) showed a corresponding gain in vimentin expression (complete epithelial-mesenchymal transition) and 80 per cent (20/25) did not. Overall, 16.6 per cent (5/30) cases showed complete EMT. However, no correlation between E- cadherin and vimentin expression at the IF was found. No statistical significance was found between E-cadherin loss and vimentin gain at the IF, with the various parameters or the risk score.Interpretation & ConclusionsThe present study suggests that the cells at IF may metastasize even without a gain in vimentin expression (without classical EMT), as cohesive clusters showing incomplete EMT (E-cadh-/Vim-).

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