Prognostic significance of artemin and GFRα1 expression in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Artemin (ARTN) has been implicated in the development and progression of several human malignancies. However, the clinical and prognostic significance of ARTN and its receptors has not yet been investigated in human laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). Therefore, in the present study, the protein expression of ARTN and its receptor, namely GFRα1, was determined in 76 LSCC and 26 laryngeal polyp tissue samples using immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of ARTN and GFRα1 expression was analyzed in patients with LSCC. The results revealed that the expression of ARTN and GFRα1 was significantly increased in LSCC compared with polyp tissue samples. Furthermore, the expression of ARTN and GFRα1 was positively associated with pTNM stage in LSCC. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses revealed a strong association between the expression of ARTN or GFRα1 and the survival of patients with LSCC. Correlation analysis demonstrated that the expression of ARTN was significantly correlated with the expression GFRα1. In conclusion, the results demonstrated that ARTN and GFRα1 may be useful predictors of disease progression and outcome in patients with LSCC.

Perineural Invasion in Head and Neck Cancer

“…Artemin, a member of the GDNF family, is overexpressed in human laryngeal SCC and is associated with poor survival and high tumor stage (Gao et al 2014). In pancreatic cancer cell lines, artemin enhances neurotropic invasion (Gao et al 2015), but the association between artemin and PNI has not been investigated in SCC.…”

The role of Glial cell derived neurotrophic factor in head and neck cancer

“…In addition positive GDNF expression was associated with increased perineural invasion, lymphatic metastasis and decreased overall survival of patients [26]. In laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, the expression of GFRα1 and ARTN, another GFL member, was associated with more advanced pTNM stage [19]. GFL member PSPN has been suggested to play a key role in human oral cancer progression [20].…”

“…However, GDNF and its related family members have been shown to enhance tumor aggressiveness by increasing tumor cell migration [15][16][17] and promoting perineural invasion [18]. In laryngeal carcinoma, a type of HNSCC, higher expression of GFRα1 and ARTN was associated with more advanced pTNM stage [19]. The expression of another GFL member, PSPN, was also noted to be higher in primary oral squamous cell carcinoma compared to normal mucosa [20].…”

Relevance of miR-223 as Potential Diagnostic and Prognostic Markers in Cancer

“…Significant advances have been made in miRNA-based therapy; however, many challenges must be overcome before clinical usage [ 89 ]. Regardless, several studies reported miR-223 expression as a potential diagnostic and therapeutic target [ 36 , 89 , 90 , 91 ].…”

“…Most physicians recommend surgical resection for esophageal carcinomas at their early stages [ 98 ]. Due to the limited treatment options, further research is needed to identify biomolecular pathways involved in esophageal cancer malignancy [ 90 , 98 , 99 ].…”