immunocytochemical study of p53 protein in exfoliated cells of oral mucosa in patients with type 2 diabetes

Background: there is a potential risk for malignancy in patients with diabetes mellitus. theoretically, a noninvasive method for detection of precancerous changes can be conducted on oral exfoliated cell smears. objectives: in this study, the immunocytochemistry of p53 in exfoliated oral mucosal cells in patients with type 2 diabetes was investigated. patients and methods: oral mucosal smears were prepared from 50 patients with type 2 diabetes (d) and 50 healthy participants (c). the immunocytochemistry of p53 was assessed according to the kit instructions on oral smears. the mannwhitney nonparametric test was used to compare the p53 expression in d and c groups. results: the results showed a significant increase in p53 expression in exfoliated cells of oral mucosa in d group compared with c group (p < 0.05). there was a significant correlation between the intensity of p53 expression and level of fasting blood sugar (fbs) (r = 0.816, p < 0.001), as well as between the percentage of p53 positive cells and fbs. the nucleus area (na) and the cytoplasm to nuclear ratio (cnr) had significant correlations with p53 expression (r = 0.272, p = 0.08) na, and cnr (r = 0.434, p = 0.005). conclusions: this study showed that there was a significant expression of p53 in oral mucosal exfoliated cells of group d patients compared with c group. it seems that this noninvasive technique could be useful to detect premalignancy changes of oral mucosa as well as for early detection of malignancies.