IADR Abstract Archives

Role of Nerves in Human Oral Cavity Cancer

Objectives: Perineural invasion (PNI) portends poor survival in oral cancer, leading to selection of aggressive treatment. PNI is defined as cancer within or surrounding 33% of the nerve, but current evidence shows that nerve-tumor crosstalk happens prior to contact. Our goal was to comprehensively analyze nerves in oral cancer to investigate correlations with clinical outcome.
Methods: Biopsy specimens from 71 patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) (41 males, 30 females, mean age 60.2) were sectioned and stained with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E), and immunohistochemical stains (cytokeratin, S-100, Tuj1 and GAP43 antibodies or IgG as a negative control). Scanned slides were digitally analyzed. Tumor and nerve characteristics were assessed by IHC. GAP43 expression of each nerve was compared to Tuj1.
Results: PNI was scored by H&E alone and by H&E+IHC; detection was 22.5% with H&E alone and increased to 33.8% with concurrent IHC. PNI associated with worse overall survival (OS) (p=0.098) and among patients without clinical nodal metastasis PNI was associated with poor survival (p=0.057). Smaller nerve-tumor distances adversely impacted survival (Adjusted Cox modeling, HR0.63, 95%CI, p=0.003). Nerves closer to the tumor also expressed more GAP43, suggesting an increased axonal outgrowth in these areas.
Conclusions: Our findings from a small group of patients suggest that PNI is related to poor outcome in OSCC patients and that adding IHC to the analysis increased PNI detection. Also, small nerve-tumor distances associated with worse outcome, consistent with previous studies showing tumor-nerve interactions before physical contact. These novel findings could potentially redefine criteria for neural invasion in clinical specimens.
AADR/CADR Annual Meeting
2018 AADR/CADR Annual Meeting (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
2018
0059
Oral Medicine & Pathology Research
  • Schmitd, Ligia  ( University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States )
  • Taylor, Jeremy  ( University of Michigan School of Public Health , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States )
  • D'silva, Nisha  ( University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States )
  • Beesley, Lauren  ( University of Michigan School of Public Health , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States )
  • Russo, Nickole  ( University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States )
  • Bellile, Emily  ( University of Michigan School of Public Health , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States )
  • Inglehart, Ronald  ( University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States )
  • Gordon, Christopher  ( University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States )
  • Liu, Min  ( University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States )
  • Pierchala, Brian  ( University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States )
  • Wolf, Gregory  ( University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , Michigan , United States )
  • This work was supported by grants from NIH/NIDCR DE024384 and DE027551
    None
    Oral Session
    Epithelial Tumors
    Wednesday, 03/21/2018 , 01:30PM - 03:00PM