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The aim of this study was to determine the expression of cellular FLICE-like inhibitory protein (cFLIP) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and revealed its possible correlation to Fas protein and tumour clinical parameters. The expression of cFLIP was analysed in 58 HNSCC samples and 30 morphologically normal tissues adjacent to the carcinomas using immunohistochemistry, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot analysis. Furthermore, its possible correlation to the expression of Fas protein and tumour clinicopathologic parameters were discussed. Cellular FLICE-like inhibitory protein was demonstrated to be up regulated in most HNSCC than in normal tissues by immunohistochemistry ( p < 0.01). Although the mRNA levels of both isoforms of cFLIP, long form (cFLIPL) and short form (cFLIPS), in HNSCC were higher than those in normal tissues ( p < 0.01), only cFLIPL protein could be detected by western blot. Furthermore, the expression of cFLIPL protein was significantly associated with tumour clinical stage ( p < 0.01) and lymph node metastasis ( p = 0.01). Since all of the tumours with Fas immunostaining also express cFLIP protein, there was no significant correlation between them ( p > 0.05). Overexpression of cFLIPL is a frequent event in HNSCC and HNSCC cells in vivo may need it to evade apoptosis mediated by Fas or other receptors, which might contribute to tumour development and progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical patterns in young Chinese patients (less than 40 years old) with laryngeal squamous cell cancer (LSCC) and the outcome of primary open surgery. Methods: Thirty-four young patients, with histologically confirmed LSCC between 1985 and 2005 at Qilu Hospital and Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical College, who underwent primary open surgery were retrospectively evaluated according to the clinical patterns in comparison with 374 non-young patients (older than 40 years). The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the survival rate. The relevance of smoking, tumor location, tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging, lymph node involvement, tumor size, and histological differentiation to overall survival was tested by multivariate analysis. Results: There was a significantly higher rate of smoking (p = 0.020) in the non-young patients compared to the young patients, but no significant difference was observed in alcohol consumption, tumor location, tumor size, TNM staging, lymph node metastasis, histological grade, and 5-year overall survival. One-year survival rates were 100 %, 3-year survival rates were 79.41 %, and 5-year survival rates were 67.65 %. In the multivariate analysis, lymph node involvement (p = 0.006), tumor stage (p = 0.022), and tumor size (p = 0.004) proved to be significant predictors of overall survival. Conclusions: The incidence of smoking was significantly higher in non-young patients compared to young patients. Primary surgery with or without radiotherapy may provide a value treatment option for young LSCC. Nodal status, tumor stage, and tumor size were the primary determinants of overall survival in multivariate analysis. These data may provide useful information for counseling and treatment planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in oncogenesis. Methods and Results: Our microarray analysis showed that numerous lncRNAs are dysregulated in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC) tumor tissues as compared with normal tissues. Among those lncRNAs, urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1) has been found to have an oncogenic role in HSCC. We confirmed the upregulation of UCA1 in HSCC by assessing its expression levels in a cohort of 53 patient tumors and paired non-tumor samples. In addition, we found that high UCA1 expression was significantly associated with advanced T category, late clinical stage, greater lymphatic invasion, and worse prognosis. Furthermore, in vitro experiments demonstrated that UCA1 functioned as an oncogene by promoting the proliferation and invasion and preventing the apoptosis of HSCC cells. Conclusions: Taken together, our findings for the first time identify the role of UCA1 as a tumor promoter and a prometastatic factor in HSCC, demonstrating that UCA1 is a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in HSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to identify the role of caveolin-1 (CAV1) in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC) and identify its possible correlation with tumor clinical parameters. Expression of CAV1 was measured using immunohistochemical staining of 66 HSCC samples and 44 samples from morphologically normal tissues adjacent to the carcinomas. Expression of CAV1 in HSCC and paracancerous tissues were 71.2 and 9.5% respectively. Levels of CAV1 expression were significantly associated with tumor differentiation, tumor-node-metastasis stage and lymph nodes metastasis (P<0.05). The present study identified that expression of CAV1 in HSCC is significantly higher than in paracancerous tissues, suggesting that this high expression of CAV1 is associated with tumor invasion and metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laryngeal cancer is an uncommon form of cancer. The tumor suppressor P16, known to be mutated or deleted in various types of human tumor, including laryngeal carcinoma, is involved in the formation and development of laryngeal carcinoma. It has been previously reported that the inactivation or loss of P16 is associated with the acquisition of malignant characteristics. The current study hypothesized that restoring wild-type P16 activity into P16-null malignant Hep2 cells may exert an antitumor effect. A recombinant adenovirus carrying the P16 gene (Ad-P16) was used to infect and express high levels of P16 protein in P16-null Hep2 cells. Cell proliferation and invasion assays and polymerase chain reaction were performed to evaluate the effects of the P16 gene on cell proliferation and the antitumor effect on Hep2 cells. The results demonstrated that the Hep2 cells infected with Ad-P16 exhibited significantly reduced cell proliferation, invasion and tumor volume compared with untreated or control adenovirus cells. Furthermore, the expression of laryngeal carcinoma-associated genes, EGFR, survivin and cyclin D1, were measured in Ad-P16-infected cells and were significantly reduced compared with control groups. The results of the current study demonstrate that restoring wild-type P16 activity into P16-null Hep2 cells exerts an antitumor effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Claudin-l and cyclin B1 are abnormally expressed in certain malignancies, but their expression in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC) has not been reported thus far. Studying the expression levels of claudin-1 and cylin B1 in HSCC tissues and their association with clinical stage, pathological grade and prognosis in patients with HSCC may provide a theoretical basis and guide future research on HSCC targeted therapy. The protein expression levels of the above two biomarkers was immunohistochemically detected in 97 HSCC cases and 90 matched adjacent tissue samples. The correlation between the expression levels of claudin-1 and cylin B1 and the patients' clinical parameters was analyzed via Pearson's χ² test, while survival analysis was performed using a log-rank test. The results of the current study revealed that claudin-1 and cyclin B1 were highly expressed in HSCC tissues, and the expression of claudin-1 was associated with tumor differentiation degree and lymph node metastasis, while cyclin B1 expression was associated with tumor differentiation degree. Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that claudin-1 expression correlated with survival (P=0.003), and the expression levels of claudin-1 and cyclin B1 were observed to be positively correlated, in patients with HSCC. Cyclin B1 and claudin-1 exhibited an elevated expression in HSCC specimens, thus suggesting their use as tumor markers. Therefore, the joint detection of claudin-1 and cyclin B1 may aid to guide cancer therapy and to determine prognosis in HSCC. Furthermore, claudin-1 may be used as an HSCC-monitoring index, and may serve as a therapeutic target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]