Cancer letters
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Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common malignant head and neck tumor and is responsible for more than 90% of head and neck cancers and accounts for 4.5% of all malignant tumors in males and 3.5% in females in South Korea. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation of suggested clinico-pathological prognostic factors such as gender, age, T score (T number in TNM), clinical stage, proliferation, invasion index, and lymph node metastasis to the survival of SCC patients in Korea. Furthermore, cytokeratin (CK), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and recently documented apoptosis related protein, survivin, were analyzed by RT-PCR. ⋯ In addition, lymph node CK and survivin mRNA expression have significant effects on OSCC patient survival rate. This means that prognostic value can be amplified by coincident analysis of T score, pathologically confirmed lymph node metastasis, and lymph node CK or survivin mRNA expression. Multivariate analysis using Cox's proportional hazards model, clinical TNM stage and lymph node survivin mRNA expression were independent OSCC prognostic factors, which support cancer staging based on the TNM as a powerful prognostic variable and lymph node survivin expression might provide predictive information for OSCC patient survival.