Abstract
BackgroundOral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is associated with a poor 5-year survival rate. In general, patients diagnosed with small tumors have a fairly good prognosis, but some small tumors have an aggressive behavior leading to early death. There are at present no reliable prognostic biomarkers for oral cancers. Thus, to optimize treatment for the individual patient, there is a need for biomarkers that can predict tumor behavior.MethodIn the present study the potential prognostic value of plectin was evaluated by a tissue microarray (TMA) based immunohistochemical analysis of primary tumor tissue obtained from a North Norwegian cohort of 115 patients diagnosed with OSCC. The expression of plectin was compared with clinicopathological variables and 5 year survival.ResultsThe statistical analysis revealed that low expression of plectin in the tumor cells predicted a favorable outcome for patients with non-metastatic disease (p = 0.008). Furthermore, the expression of plectin was found to correlate (p = 0.01) with the expression of uPAR, which we have previously found to be a potential prognostic marker for T1N0 tumors.ConclusionsOur results indicate that low expression of plectin predicts a favorable outcome for patients with non-metastatic OSCC and the expression level of plectin may therefore be used in the treatment stratification for patients with early stage disease.
Highlights
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is associated with a poor 5-year survival rate
The statistical analysis revealed that low expression of plectin in the tumor cells predicted a favorable outcome for patients with non-metastatic disease (p = 0.008)
The expression of plectin was found to correlate (p = 0.01) with the expression of urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR), which we have previously found to be a potential prognostic marker for T1N0 tumors
Summary
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is associated with a poor 5-year survival rate. Head and neck SCC (HNSCC) have a 5-year survival rate of approximately 50 %, [3, 4] and are ranked as the eighth leading cause of cancer death worldwide [5]. The most widely used classificationsystem of OSCC is the TNM-system by the Union for International Cancer Control [6]. This system is used to describe the anatomical extent of the disease at diagnosis based on primary tumor size and extent of tumor growth (T), regional lymph node metastasis (N) and distant. In an attempt to find new and better prognostic markers we have in this study focused on plectin Plectin is a large intracellular cytoskeletal linker protein (>500-kDa) that
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