Abstract:Objective To investigate expression levels of Bcl-2 and CDK2AP1 in oral leukoplakia and oral squamous carcinoma tissue and its potential clinical value. Methods Patient samples of oral leukoplakia, oral squamous carcinoma and normal tissue were collected in this study. Immunohistochemistry and the fluorescence quantitative PCR were utilized to identify expression of Bcl -2 and CDK2AP1. Results Immunohistochemistry data suggested that ratio of Bcl-2 positive cells in oral leukoplakia and oral squamous cell carcinoma tissue were increased significantly when compared with normal oral mucosa [(19.29 ±8.18)% vs(2.72 ±1.45) % (P < 0.05), (57.20 ±19.37)% vs (2.72 ±1.45) % ( P< 0.05), respectively]. However, ratio of CDK2AP1 positive cells in oral leukoplakia and oral squamous cell carcinoma tissue were decreased dramatically when compared with normal oral mucosa [(25.68 ±8.17)% vs (62.68 ±11.07) % ( P< 0.05), (7.87±2.18)% vs (62.68 ±11.07) % ( P< 0.05), respectively]. Immunohistochemistry data were well echoed by PCR results and statistical significance among each groups were obtained. Conclusion Expression levels of Bcl-2 increase while CDK2AP1 decreases along with the increase of malignancy from normal oral mucosa, oral leukoplakia to oral squamous cell carcinoma tissue, which may indicates that Bcl-2 and CDK2AP1 may be involved in development as well as prognosis of oral tumors.