IADR Abstract Archives
High expression of LoxL4 but not αSMA correlates with aggressive oral cancer in a cohort of patients from Sudan
Objectives:
In Sudan oral cancer is the fifth most common cancer type with the incidence rate of 920 case/year. With standard therapy, less than 50% of patients survive up to 5-years due to late diagnosis and aggressive treatment. The expression of cancer stroma-associated biomarkers could be used to identify aggressive tumors at an early stage. We aimed to investigate the correlation between activated stroma (αSMA and/or LoxL4 positive), other tumor markers (p53 expression) and various clinical parameters (tumor stage and lymph node metastasis).
Methods: A cohort of 120 patients diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) at Khartoum Dental Teaching Hospital during 2012-2015 was included in this study. Immunohistochemistry was performed on paraffin embedded, formalin fixed tissue samples to assess the expression of αSMA, LoxL4, and p53. The staining was evaluated semi-quantitatively manually and the data was analyzed using SPSS program.
Results: Alpha smooth muscle actin (αSMA) was strongly expressed in the stroma at the tumor front of 30.8% of cases and did correlate with the p53 status (p=0.006). LoxL4 was expressed by epithelial (tumor) compartment in 65.8% of cases and stroma at the tumor front in 37.5% of cases only. Both epithelial and stromal expression of LoxL4 were significantly correlated to lymph node metastasis (p=0.02 and 0.03, respectively). Stromal expression of LoxL4 was significantly correlated to tumor stage (p=0.03). No correlation between αSMA and any clinical parameters was found, although a strong correlation was found with the epithelial LoxL4 expression (p=0.008).
Conclusions: This study suggests that expression of LoxL4 is a better indicator of OSCC aggressiveness than the expression of αSMA in Sudanese patients, in contrast to previous results from studies on Caucasian patients’ cohorts. This could be related to the use of a specific risk factor (Toombak) associated with OSCC in Sudanese but not Caucasian patients.
In Sudan oral cancer is the fifth most common cancer type with the incidence rate of 920 case/year. With standard therapy, less than 50% of patients survive up to 5-years due to late diagnosis and aggressive treatment. The expression of cancer stroma-associated biomarkers could be used to identify aggressive tumors at an early stage. We aimed to investigate the correlation between activated stroma (αSMA and/or LoxL4 positive), other tumor markers (p53 expression) and various clinical parameters (tumor stage and lymph node metastasis).
Methods: A cohort of 120 patients diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) at Khartoum Dental Teaching Hospital during 2012-2015 was included in this study. Immunohistochemistry was performed on paraffin embedded, formalin fixed tissue samples to assess the expression of αSMA, LoxL4, and p53. The staining was evaluated semi-quantitatively manually and the data was analyzed using SPSS program.
Results: Alpha smooth muscle actin (αSMA) was strongly expressed in the stroma at the tumor front of 30.8% of cases and did correlate with the p53 status (p=0.006). LoxL4 was expressed by epithelial (tumor) compartment in 65.8% of cases and stroma at the tumor front in 37.5% of cases only. Both epithelial and stromal expression of LoxL4 were significantly correlated to lymph node metastasis (p=0.02 and 0.03, respectively). Stromal expression of LoxL4 was significantly correlated to tumor stage (p=0.03). No correlation between αSMA and any clinical parameters was found, although a strong correlation was found with the epithelial LoxL4 expression (p=0.008).
Conclusions: This study suggests that expression of LoxL4 is a better indicator of OSCC aggressiveness than the expression of αSMA in Sudanese patients, in contrast to previous results from studies on Caucasian patients’ cohorts. This could be related to the use of a specific risk factor (Toombak) associated with OSCC in Sudanese but not Caucasian patients.