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Impaired Mitochondrial Protein Synthesis in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Author(s) -
Koc Emine,
Haciosmanoglu Ebru,
Wolf Allison,
Claudio Pier Paolo,
Koc Hasan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.725.30
Subject(s) - head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , mitochondrial dna , translation (biology) , mitochondrion , cancer research , oxidative phosphorylation , biology , cancer , metastasis , head and neck cancer , pathology , medicine , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , messenger rna , genetics , biochemistry
Human Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) ranks among the sixth most common cancer types worldwide possibly due to the significant role of alcohol and tobacco use in the development of HNSCC. Interestingly, mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been found to be associated with human head and neck cancers. Here, we investigated the changes in oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complexes and contribution of mitochondrial translation components in HNSCC. Immunoblotting analyses of human HNSCC tumors have shown that the expression of OXPHOS was impaired at the protein level. Specifically, an overall reduction in one of the mitochondrially encoded subunits of the OXPHOS complexes accentuated a possible defect in mitochondrial translation machinery. Evidence provided in this study suggests that the mitochondrial translation defect(s) could be due to a decrease in expression of one of the essential mitochondrial ribosomal proteins, MRPL11, in head and neck tumor biopsies. We also observed an acquired mitochondrial translation deficiency in the HN8 cell linederived from a lymph node metastasis but not in the HN22 cells derived from the primary tumor of the same patient. Our observations suggest that the mitochondrial translation machinery deserves further investigation for accurate molecular assessment and treatment of HNSCC.