Impact of Interleukin‐1 Alpha and EGFR Expression on Recurrence and Survival Outcomes in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Interleukin‐1 alpha (IL‐1α) is a pleiotropic cytokine involved in inflammation and immune response and is upregulated in many solid tumors including head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). Although IL‐1α expression is generally associated with poor prognosis, the implications of the subcellular localization of IL‐1α expression in patient outcomes are poorly understood. This study is aimed at investigating the clinical relevance of nuclear and cytoplasmic immunohistochemical IL‐1α expression in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs). Tissue microarrays (TMAs) containing 146 OSCCs were analyzed for IL‐1α and EGFR expression by immunohistochemistry. Nuclear and cytoplasmic IL‐1α and EGFR expression scores were correlated with clinicopathological parameters and patient outcomes. IL‐1α expression was observed in the nuclear and/or cytoplasm compartments in 98% of evaluable tumors and 78% of tumors expressed IL‐1α in both compartments. Tumors with combined high nuclear and moderate cytoplasmic IL‐1α expression showed a trend toward worse disease‐free and overall survival compared to tumors with other nuclear/cytoplasmic IL‐1α expression profiles. EGFR expression was observed in 62% of tumors. A combined EGFR‐negative and high nuclear IL‐1α expression profile was associated with a low risk of tumor recurrence and favorable overall survival compared to all other EGFR/IL‐1α expression profiles. IL‐1α in combination with EGFR expression may be a strong indicator of risk of recurrence in OSCC and warrants further study as a tissue biomarker for predicting patient outcomes.Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported by the Department of Pathology, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants R01DE024550, and CTSA UL1TR002537 administered through the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) at the University of Iowa.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.