expression of apolipoprotein c-i (apo c-i) in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Introduction: one of the most common cancers of the oral cavity is oral squamous cell carcinoma (oscc). previous studies have provided evidence that apolipoprotein c-i (apo c-i) has an oncogenic role beyond its classical function. although it has been investigated in prostate, breast, and lung cancer, there is no information available regarding apo c-i expression in tumor and pri-tumor tissues of oscc patients. thus, the goal of the present study was to unravel the expression of apo c-i in oscc and investigate its correlation with the survival and grade of oscc patients. methods: the apo c-i mrna level was measured in tumor and pri-tumor tissues of 16 oscc patients. in addition, the 34 paraffin-embedded tissues of oscc patients and ihc technique were used to analyze the association of apo c-i protein with the survival of oscc patients. results: the mrna (p=0.0386) gene expression of apo c-i showed a statistically significant difference between tumor and pri-tumor tissues of oscc patients. it seems that a high protein level of apo c-i is related with poor survival of oscc patients (p=0.04). the apo c-i protein was positively correlated with the tumor site (pearson r= 0.485, p=0.0036) but not the grade (pearson r= 0.2295, p=0.1917). our data showed that high apo c-i protein levels might be correlated with poor survival of oscc patients.conclusion: our findings suggest that patients with high protein levels of apo c-i may have lower survival, making it a potential prognostic factor for oscc. however, further investigation is necessary to establish this concept.