Programmed cell death(apoptosis) is a distinctive form of cell death manifested by characteristic chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation, whose function is the deletion of cells in normal development, organogenesis, immune function, and tissue growth, but which can also be induced by pathologic stimuli. The bc12 shows the unique functional role of blocking apoptosis independent of affecting proliferation, appears to constitute a member of a new category of oncogenes: regulators of programmed cell death. The bax homodimerizes and forms heterodimers with bc12 in vivo. Overexpressed bax accelerates apoptotic death, and the ratio of bc12 to bax determines survival or death following on apoptotic stimulus. The purposes of this study were to examine the expression of bcl#l & bax in the head & neck cancers according to histologic types & cellular differentiation rate, to examine the relationship between bcl2 expression and bax expression in the same specimens. For these purposes, paraffin-embedded tissues were subjected to immunohistochemistry techniques. Following results were obtained: 1) The bc12 was detected in 20(100%) out of 20 cases of undifferentiated carcinoma, 15(57.7 /) out of 26 cases of non-keratinized squamous cell carcinoma, 4(16.66%) out of 24 cases of keratinized squamous cell carcinoma, 6(50%) out of 12 cases of malignant lymphoma. 2) The bax was detected in 23(95.83%) out of 24 cases of keratinized squamous cell carcinoma, 18(69.23%) out of 26 cases of non-keratinized squamous cell carcinoma, 9(45%) out of 20 cases of undifferntiated carcinoma, 5(41.67%) out of 12 cases of malignant lymphoma. 3) The positive rate of bax expression was more higher in 29(78.38%) out of 37 cases negative for bc12 than 26(57.78%) out of 45 cases positive for bc12. In conclusion we found that the higher the expression of bc12, the poorer the cellular differentiation rate, the higher the expression of bax, the better the cellular differentiation rate in the head & neck carcinomas. And also we found that the bc12-bax expression rate was inversely praportional in same specimens of the head & neck cancers.
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