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Tumour budding and the expression of cancer stem cell marker aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Author(s) -
Luo WeiRen,
Gao Fei,
Li SiYi,
Yao KaiTai
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
histopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.626
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1365-2559
pISSN - 0309-0167
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2559.2012.04350.x
Subject(s) - tumor budding , nasopharyngeal carcinoma , budding , pathology , immunohistochemistry , lymphovascular invasion , biology , cancer stem cell , metastasis , cancer research , cancer , oncology , medicine , lymph node metastasis , radiation therapy , genetics
Luo W‐R, Gao F, Li S‐Y & Yao K‐T
(2012) Histopathology
Tumour budding and the expression of cancer stem cell marker aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma Aims: To detect the prognostic significance of tumour budding and its expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods and results: Tumour budding was investigated in 105 patients with NPC by immunohistochemistry for pan‐cytokeratin (AE1/AE3). The intensity of budding correlated strongly with T classification ( P = 0.008), lymphatic invasion ( P < 0.001), vascular invasion ( P = 0.029), lymph node metastasis ( P < 0.001), and clinical stage ( P = 0.010). Univariate analysis revealed that patients with high budding grade had poorer survival than those with low grade ( P = 0.002). Multivariate analysis showed that tumour budding was an independent predictor of survival ( P = 0.001). Furthermore, budding cells showed high‐level expression of the cancer stem cell (CSC) marker ALDH1. Budding cells with high‐level ALDH1 expression contributed to several aggressive behaviours and poor survival ( P = 0.000). Conclusions: We describe, for the first time, the presence of tumour budding and its correlation with aggressive tumour behaviour and poor patient survival in NPC. The degree of tumour budding could be a valuable predictive factor in NPC. In addition, we show, also for the first time, that budding cells in NPC might possess the invasive and metastatic properties of CSCs.