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Overexpression of caldesmon is associated with lymph node metastasis and poorer prognosis in patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma
Author(s) -
Chang KaiPing,
Wang ChihLueh Albert,
Kao HuangKai,
Liang Ying,
Liu ShiauChin,
Huang LingLing,
Hseuh Chuen,
Hsieh YaJu,
Chien KunYi,
Chang YuSun,
Yu JauSong,
Chi LangMing
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.28300
Subject(s) - medicine , perineural invasion , immunohistochemistry , pathology , metastasis , caldesmon , western blot , cancer research , carcinoma , oncology , cancer , biology , gene , biochemistry , calcium , calmodulin
BACKGROUND A previous comparative tissue proteomics study by the authors of the current study led to the identification of caldesmon (CaD) as one of the proteins associated with cervical metastasis of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). In the current investigation, the authors focused on the potential functions of CaD in patients with OSCC. METHODS CaD expression was examined in tissue samples from 155 patients using immunohistochemical analysis. The expression of CaD variants was determined by Western blot analysis and reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction. In addition, the specific effects of CaD gene overexpression and silence were determined in OSCC cell lines. RESULTS CaD expression was found to be significantly higher in tumor cells from metastatic lymph nodes compared with primary tumor cells, and was nearly absent in normal oral epithelia. Higher CaD expression was found to be correlated with positive N classification, poor differentiation, perineural invasion, and tumor depth ( P = .001, P = .029, P = .001, and P = .031, respectively). In survival analyses, OSCC patients with higher CaD expression were found to have poorer prognosis with regard to disease‐specific survival and disease‐free survival ( P = .003 and P = .014, respectively). Multivariate analyses further indicated that higher CaD expression was an independent predictor of disease‐specific survival ( P = .043). Serum CaD levels were found to be significantly higher in patients with OSCC, but this finding was not associated with clinicopathological manifestations. Data obtained from in vitro suppression, rescue, and overexpression of CaD in OEC‐M1 cells indicated that CaD promotes migration and invasive processes in OSCC cells. CONCLUSIONS The findings of the current study collectively suggest that the low‐molecular‐weight CaD expression in OSCC tumors is associated with tumor metastasis and patient survival. Cancer 2013 ;119:4003–4011. © 2013 American Cancer Society .