Tissue microarray analysis reveals the expression and prognostic significance of phosphorylated AktThr³⁰⁸ in oral squamous cell carcinoma

We aimed to investigate the association between the expression of phosphorylated Akt(Thr308) (p-Akt(Thr308)) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) tissues and clinicopathological parameters of OSCC patients and to verify the validity of p-Akt(Thr308) as a prognostic biomarker.One hundred and ninety-one patients with OSCC were recruited for the study. We tested the expression of p-Akt(Thr308) by immunohistochemistry (IHC) with tissue microarray (TMA) and analyzed with digital pathology analysis software. The clinicopathological parameters of all patients were collected from follow-up.P-Akt(Thr308) was detected in 95.2% of OSCC patients. The expression of p-Akt(Thr308) was significantly correlated with local recurrence and five-year survival rate. High expression of p-Akt(Thr308) in OSCC was associated with poor prognosis.P-Akt(Thr308) might be a candidate biomarker for the prediction of OSCC prognosis.