Abstract: PURPOSE: To evaluate the relationship between the expression of EphA7 and its clinical correlation and function with tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC). METHODS: The expression of EphA7 was determined in 54 pairs of human TSCC tissues and pair-matched adjacent noncancerous tissues by immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, association between EphA7 expression and patients’ clinicopathological characteristics, overall and disease-free survival were evaluated. Invasion and metastasis of SCC9 cell were detected before and after down regulation of EphA7 expression. Differences in measurement data were compared with paired-t test, and survival analysis was made by Kaplan-Meier method using SPSS17.0 software package. RESULTS: EphA7 was positive in all examined specimens. Significant associations were noted between high EphA7 expression and absence of lymph node metastasis, absence of vascular invasion, dense stromal inflammatory reaction and female gender. TSCC patients with higher EphA7 expression presented longer overall and disease-free survival compared with low EphA7 expression. The invasion and metastasis of SCC9 cell increased significantly after down regulation of EphA7. CONCLUSIONS: The study indicated that EphA7 may participate in the malignant transformation of TSCC, reinforcing their utility as targets for potential therapeutic intervention.

Key words: TSCC, EphA7, SCC9