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Expression of glucose transporters in head‐and‐neck tumors
Author(s) -
Mellanen P.,
Minn H.,
Grénman R.,
Härkönen P.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910560503
Subject(s) - glut3 , glut1 , glucose transporter , biology , glut2 , glut4 , immunohistochemistry , population , cancer research , glucose uptake , pathology , endocrinology , medicine , immunology , insulin , environmental health
The expression of glucose transporter genes (GLUTI‐4) was studied in 20 head‐and‐neck tumors of 18 patients. All tumors—16 of which were squamous‐cell carcinomas (SCC)—expressed GLUTI and/or GLUT3 mRNA, while detectable levels of GLUT2 or GLUT4 mRNA were not observed. The signals for GLUTI and GLUT3 mRNAs varied markedly throughout the SCC tumor population but no clear relationship with the grade of differentiation was found. The high GLUT expression observed in some tumors was, not associated with amplification or rearrangement of the corresponding genes. Immunohistochemistry of 5 SCCs showed that GLUTI protein was located in tumor‐cell membranes in relation to the level of mRNA expression. We conclude that both GLUTI and GLUT3 are involved in basal glucose uptake of extracranial head‐and‐neck tumors. The increased expression of these high‐affinity GLUT isoforms may be related to the growth maintenance of cancer tissue in cases of limited supply of substrate e.g. , in poorly vascularized tumor areas.