Activin A immunoexpression as predictor of occult lymph node metastasis and overall survival in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma

Author(s):Show less -

Kelner, Natalie ^[1] ; Rodrigues, Priscila Campioni ^[2] ; Bufalino, Andreia ^[2] ; Fonseca, Felipe Paiva ^[2] ; dos Santos-Silva, Alan Roger ^[2] ; Costa Miguel, Marcia Cristina ^{[2, 3]} ; Lopes Pinto, Clovis Antonio ^[4] ; Paes Leme, Adriana Franco ^[5] ; Graner, Edgard ^[2] ; Salo, Tuula ^{[6, 7, 8]} ; Kowalski, Luiz Paulo ^[1] ; Coletta, Ricardo D. ^[2]

Affiliation

^[1] AC Camargo Canc Ctr, Dept Head & Neck Surg & Otorhinolaryngol, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, Sch Dent, Dept Oral Diag, BR-13414018 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Norte, Dept Dent, Natal, RN - Brazil

^[4] AC Camargo Canc Ctr, Dept Pathol, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[5] Ctr Nacl Pesquisa Energia & Mat, Lab Nacl Biociencias, Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[6] Univ Helsinki, Inst Dent, FIN-00014 Helsinki - Finland

^[7] Univ Oulu, Inst Dent, Dept Diagnost & Oral Med, SF-90100 Oulu - Finland

^[8] Univ Oulu, Oulu Univ Hosp, SF-90100 Oulu - Finland

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: HEAD AND NECK-JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENCES AND SPECIALTIES OF THE HEAD AND NECK; v. 37, n. 4, p. 479-486, APR 2015.
• Web of Science Citations: 25

Abstract

BackgroundThe presence of regional lymph node metastasis has an important impact on clinical management and prognostication of patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Approximately 30% to 50% of patients with oral tongue SCC have regional metastasis at diagnosis, but the limited sensibility of the current diagnostic methods used for neck staging does not allow detection of all cases, leaving a significant number of undiagnosed metastasis (occult lymph node metastasis). In this study, we evaluated whether clinicopathologic features and immunohistochemical detection of carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and activin A could be predictive markers for occult lymph node metastasis in oral tongue SCC. MethodsOne hundred ten patients with primary oral tongue SCC, who were classified with early stage tumor (stage I and II) and received surgical treatment with elective neck dissection, were enrolled in the study. ResultsAmong all examined features, only high immunohistochemical expression of activin A was significantly associated with presence of occult lymph node metastasis (p=.006). Multivariate survival analysis using the Cox proportional hazard model showed that the expression of activin A was an independent marker of reduced overall survival with a 5-year survival of 89.7% for patients with low expression compared to 76.5% for those with high expression (hazard ratio {[}HR], 2.44; 95% confidence interval {[}CI], 1.55-3.85; p=.012). ConclusionOur results demonstrated that immunodetection of activin A can be useful for prognostication of oral tongue SCC, revealing patients with occult lymph node metastasis and lower overall survival. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck37: 479-486, 2015 (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/03507-3 - Clinicopathological factors and immunohistochemical expression of potencial predictive markers for cervical metastasis in early (T1-T2) squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and floor of the mouth
• Grantee: Natalie Kelner de Queiroz
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate