Correlation of H3K9ac and H4K12ac With Cell Proliferation Marker Ki-67 in Oral Leukoplakia: An Immunohistochemical Study

This study aimed to analyze the immunohistochemical expression of H3K9ac and H4K12ac in oral leukoplakia (OL) and its association with cell proliferation marker Ki-67 and clinicopathologic data. Paraffin-embedded, formalin-fixed tissue samples from 50 OLs and 15 fragments of the normal oral mucosa (NOM) were submitted to immunohistochemical assay using the streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase method. Quantitative analysis of the antigen-antibody reaction was performed by obtaining integrated optical density (IOD) and the percentage of positive nuclei (PPN) with ImageJ software. OL samples presented higher PPN (P=0.02) and lower IOD values (P=0.007) for H4K12ac in comparison to NOM. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for PPN and IOD values of H4K12ac immunostaining were 0.70 (P=0.02) and 0.73 (P=0.007), respectively. No differences were found between OL and NOM for H3K9ac. Cell proliferation marker Ki-67 had a positive correlation with PPN (P<0.0001) and IOD (P=0.0007) for H3K9ac expression and with IOD values (P=0.002) for H4K12ac expression. The present findings suggest that alterations in the acetylation pattern of H4K12 occur in the early stages of oral carcinogenesis and that both H3K9ac and H4K12ac might have a role in the regulation of epithelial cell proliferation of OL.