Objective: Metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1) has been associated with poor prognosis in several carcinomas. Recent investigation has found that in different tumors, MTA1 protein significantly correlates with tumor angiogenesis, suggesting that MTA1 may be a possible angiogenesis-promoting molecule in malignant tumors. Thus, the current study was performed to determine the role of MTA1 protein in the biological behavior of oral squamous cell carcinoma and its relation with tumor angiogenesis.

Material and Method: In this study, 44 oral squamous cell carcinomas and 15 normal epitheliums were reviewed by IHC staining for MTA1 and CD105.

Results: Frequency of MTA1 expression in SCCs was recorded as 97.7%, which was significantly higher than that of the control group (33.3%). Mean percentage of MTA1 expression in oral squamous cell carcinomas was 76.88 ± 25.33% which was significantly higher than that of the control group (22.81 ±10.83). Our data showed a correlation between MTA1 expression with lymph node metastasis, tumor size and, stage. Evaluation of the correlation between MTA1 protein expression and micro vessel density showed that high micro vessel density was detected more frequently in tumors with MTA1 protein overexpression than in those without overexpression.

Conclusion: In the present study, high expression of the MTA1 protein was seen in oral squamous cell carcinoma, and was closely associated with tumor progression and increased tumor angiogenesis. The findings may indicate that MTA1 protein has clinical potentials as a useful indicator of progressive phenotype, a promising prognostic predictor to identify patients with poor prognosis and may be a potential novel therapeutic target of anti-angiogenesis for patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma.