Decreased expression of Bax is correlated with poor prognosis in oral and oropharyngeal carcinoma

We investigated the expression of apoptosis-related factors, p53, Bax, Bcl-2, and spontaneous apoptosis in 57 cases of oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) by immunochemical staining and ApopTag kit. Positive expression of Bax was inversely associated with advanced tumor stage ( P=0.0225), lymph node metastasis ( P=0.0225), clinical stage ( P=0.0083) and poor prognosis ( P=0.0478). Positive expression of p53 was related to poor prognosis ( P=0.0445) and was associated with negative expression of Bax ( P=0.0439). The apoptosis index did not correlate with clinical outcome. These results suggest that abnormality of Bax expression plays an important role in tumor progression in oral and oropharyngeal SCC.