Protein Expression in Tonsillar and Base of Tongue Cancer and in Relation to Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Clinical Outcome.
JSON
Ramqvist T, Näsman A, Franzén B, Bersani C, Alexeyenko A, Becker S, Haeggblom L, Kolev A, Dalianis T, Munck-Wikland E
Int J Mol Sci 19 (4) - [2018-03-25; online 2018-03-25]
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major etiological factor for tonsillar and the base of tongue cancer (TSCC/BOTSCC). HPV-positive and HPV-negative TSCC/BOTSCC present major differences in mutations, mRNA expression and clinical outcome. Earlier protein studies on TSCC/BOTSCC have mainly analyzed individual proteins. Here, the aim was to compare a larger set of cancer and immune related proteins in HPV-positive and HPV-negative TSCC/BOTSCC in relation to normal tissue, presence of HPV, and clinical outcome. Fresh frozen tissue from 42 HPV-positive and 17 HPV-negative TSCC/BOTSCC, and corresponding normal samples, were analyzed for expression of 167 proteins using two Olink multiplex immunoassays. Major differences in protein expression between TSCC/BOTSCC and normal tissue were identified, especially in chemo- and cytokines. Moreover, 34 proteins, mainly immunoregulatory proteins and chemokines, were differently expressed in HPV-positive vs HPV-negative TSCC/BOTSCC. Several proteins were potentially related to clinical outcome for HPV-positive or HPV-negative tumors. For HPV-positive tumors, these were mostly related to angiogenesis and hypoxia. Correlation with clinical outcome of one of these, VEGFA, was validated by immunohistochemistry. Differences in immune related proteins between HPV-positive and HPV-negative TSCC/BOTSCC reflect the stronger activity of the immune defense in the former. Angiogenesis related proteins might serve as potential targets for therapy in HPV-positive TSCC/BOTSCC.
PubMed 29587383
DOI 10.3390/ijms19040978
Crossref 10.3390/ijms19040978
pii: ijms19040978
pmc: PMC5979357