Objective: Recent epidemiologic studies have identified a trend of increasing cancer incidence in younger patients. The purpose of this study was to determine whether this might be reflected by different molecular mechanisms for tumor development.
Study design: Dysplastic and malignant oral lesions from age-distinct patient populations were immunohistochemically analyzed for expression of p53 and cyclin D1. Chi-square analysis was used to determine statistical significance.
Results: Eighty-two percent of "older" and 75% of "younger" carcinomas stained positively with p53; 63% of carcinomas in the older population and 55% of carcinomas in the younger population showed cyclin D1 positivity. Dysplasias showed similar cyclin D1 staining in both groups. Interestingly, 100% of "younger" dysplasias stained positively for p53, whereas 35.3% of "older" dysplastic lesions showed immunoreactivity. Staining of carcinomas was not statistically significant, whereas p53 staining of dysplasias proved highly significant (P < .025).
Conclusions: p53 immunoreactivity is detectable at an earlier stage of carcinogenesis in younger patients than in the traditional risk population for oral cancer.