الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
More than 90% of all oral cancers are OSCCs. It was reported that 16–62% of OSCCs develop from premalignant lesions and are considered an important target for cancer prevention. In HNSCCs, the presence of lymph node metastasis at the time of diagnosis is an indication of poor prognosis. Vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C), due to its central roles in lymph angiogenesis and angiogenesis in embryos and tumors, is considered an important member of the VEGF family. The association of the of VEGF-C expression with lymph node metastasis has been suggested. The present study was conducted on paraffin embedded blocks of 10 cases of OPLs, 20 cases of OSCC and 5 specimens of normal oral mucosa. Immunohistochemical staining: performed using the Avidin-Biotin Complex method according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In each case , the positivity and intensity of the cytoplasmic/nuclear immunostaining of the epithelial cells in 5 randomly selected high power fields(x400) were evaluated using a combined score (scale a: intensity ) + (scale b: percentage of positive cells) with a maximum score of 6. The immunohistochemical findings revealed higher levels of VEGF-C expression in cases of OPLs with severe dysplasia, while lower levels were noticed in mild and moderate dysplasia cases. Statistically, significant difference was observed between expression of VEGF-C and degree of dysplasia. In addition, high statistical significance appeared between VEGF-C expression with lymph node metastasis and clinical staging of OSCC cases. from the findings of the present study it can be suggested that VEGF-C may play an important role in the process of carcinogenesis and may be used as a prognostic marker in predicting progression of OPLs and lymph node metastasis in OSCCs.