RACK1, an excellent predictor for poor clinical outcome in oral squamous carcinoma, similar to Ki67

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of RACK1 in predicting outcome for patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) compared with Ki67. Methods: The expression of both RACK1 and Ki67 in 130 patients with OSCC was illustrated by using immunohistochemistry assay. Multiple logistic regression and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used. Recurrence versus non-recurrence of the malignant lesions was considered as the surrogate for clinical outcome of patients. Results: Multivariable logistic regression showed that the elevated RACK1 immunostaining was a factor having great influence on OSCC prognosis. RACK1 staining was strongly related to that of Ki67. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for both biomarkers in predicting recurrence was 0.72 and 0.70 respectively, indicating an excellent discrimination for RACK1 as well as for Ki67. Conclusions: These data indicate that increased RACK1 expression is an important outcome predictor for OSCC compared with Ki67. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.