Fascin upregulation in primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is associated with lymphatic metastasis

Abstract

Fascin is an actin-bundling protein that is associated with cellular motility and cancer-cell invasion. The present study aimed to examine the expression of fascin in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and its potential use as a biomarker. In a prospective study with a median follow-up time of 48.8 months, tumor tissues, adjacent healthy tissues and cervical lymph node metastases were collected from 25 patients and analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The specimens were scored according to the intensity of fascin staining and the percentage of tumor cells stained using a semi-quantitative scoring approach; the data were analyzed and correlated with clinical follow-up observations. All of the investigators were blinded to the origin of the specimens. The expression levels of fascin were significantly increased in the tumor tissues (P=0.03) and lymph node metastases (P=0.03) compared with that of the normal tissues. The high expression level of fascin in the tumor tissues was correlated with the N-status, however, not with overall survival. Therefore, fascin may be a suitable marker for the prediction of regional lymphatic metastasis in HNSCC.

Epstein–Barr virus and its association with Fascin expression in colorectal cancers in the Syrian population: A tissue microarray study

“…In this regard, numerous studies reported that the Fascin gene plays an important role in the progression of several human carcinomas including CRC. [13][14][15] Moreover, earlier investigations demonstrated that Fascin expression is correlated with poor prognosis in human CRC. [16][17][18] Indeed, Fascin is an actin-binding protein that is expressed in a large number of human carcinomas and is usually upregulated in cancer cells specially during epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT).…”

Fascin Expression in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma using an Immunohistochemical Technique

“…(13) They also did not find fascin expression in the well-differentiated keratin-pearl-containing cases of OSCC. Moreover, unlike Chen and Alam (7,9) , other researchers (10,12) did not find a relationship between grade, microscopic stage, and fascin expression; however, they found that a relationship was established when lymph nodes were involved. The possible reasons for the disparity of results might be technical errors and the different steps of performing IHC staining, visual counting, using the computer, and the sample size examined.…”

“…These results are consistent with the results of many other studies conducted on fascin expression and its relationship with gender, age, and tumor location. (7,9,10,11,12) Similarly, Chen et al (9) did not find fascin expression intensity to have a relationship with age, gender, and tumor location and fascin expression percentage to have a relationship with the patients' age and gender. Although the majority of buccal mucosa samples expressed less than 55% fascin, the tongue samples of OSCC mostly expressed more than 55% fascin, which was statistically significant.…”

“…(11) An interesting point, however, was that in the study conducted by Papaspyrou et al, 7 cases out of the 19 surveyed cases of normal epithelium showed score 2. (12) The justification for this finding might be that the epithelia might have been derived from the vicinity of the tumor and might have therefore had the same environmental and pathological conditions, thus overexpressing the marker. The epithelia might be normal in macroscopic terms and under an optical microscope and might have experienced structural changes at the molecular level, and our slides also showed epithelia in some cases.…”

“…(5,6) Given the role of fascin in cell adhesion, this protein may be used as a target for the treatment of OSCC and also as a marker for identifying aggressive malignant cell behaviors. As only a few studies have examined the role of fascin in OSCC (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12) , the present study was therefore conducted to evaluate the expression levels of fascin in OSCC to gain more knowledge about fascin and OSCC and to also pave way for predicting tumor behavior and for finding a suitable treatment. Furthermore, given that, in many cases, non-smoking young individuals are diagnosed with tongue carcinoma, the present study as-…”