Abstract:

Background And Objectives: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the fourth leading cancer and the eighth leading cause of cancer - related death worldwide. Despite improvements in diagnosis and therapeutic concepts, the 5 year overall survival rate has not improved significantly over the last 25 years and remains around 56%. Circulating tumor cells are cancer cells detached from a primary or secondary tumor and entered the circulation, these serve as a clinical biomarker for diagnostic, prognostic and pharmacological purposes. Neoangiogenesis is essential for the growth and metastasis of solid tumors.VEGFR-2 is one of the major mediator of endothelial cell mitogenesis, proliferation and survival. Inhibition of angiogenesis by disruption of VEGFR-2 pathways, this could suppress tumors` growth by limiting their blood supply. Hence, the present study was carried out to isolate and study circulating tumor cells in different grades of oral squamous cell carcinoma from the peripheral venous blood of the patient. To assess the histological grading of oral squamous cell carcinoma by using H and E sections of the biopsy sample and to assess the immunohistochemical expression of VEGFR-2 / FLK1 in circulating tumor cells and in biopsy samples.

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