Protein marker profiling in different T classification in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

The mechanobiome: a goldmine for cancer therapeutics

Cancer progression is dependent on heightened mechanical adaptation, both for the cells' ability to change shape and to interact with varying mechanical environments. This type of adaptation is dependent on mechanoresponsive proteins that sense and respond to mechanical stress, as well as their regulators. Mechanoresponsive proteins are part of the mechanobiome, which is the larger network that constitutes the cell's mechanical systems that are also highly integrated with many other cellular systems, such as gene expression, metabolism, and signaling. Despite the altered expression patterns of key mechanobiome proteins across many different cancer types, pharmaceutical targeting of these proteins has been overlooked. Here, we review the biochemistry of key mechanoresponsive proteins, specifically nonmuscle myosin II, α-actinins, and filamins, as well as the partnering proteins 14-3-3 and CLP36. We also examined a wide range of data sets to assess how gene and protein expression levels of these proteins are altered across many different cancer types. Finally, we determined the potential of targeting these proteins to mitigate invasion or metastasis and suggest that the mechanobiome is a goldmine of opportunity for anticancer drug discovery and development.

Expression of Podoplanin in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Dysplasia

INTRODUCTION

In human cancers, podoplanin expression and its correlation with tumour invasive potential raise its possible role as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for cancer.

AIM

To investigate the immunohistochemical expression of podoplanin in laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) and dysplasia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study included a total of 60 archived, formalin fixed, paraffin embedded tissue blocks of 40 cases of laryngeal SCC and 20 cases of dysplastic lesions. The samples were immunohistochemically analysed for podoplanin expression.

RESULTS

Podoplanin expression was significantly higher in laryngeal SCC (90%) than laryngeal dysplastic lesions (55%) (p-value=0.002). The expression of podoplanin was significantly increased with the higher grades of dysplasia (p-value=0.016). A significant positive correlation was detected between podoplanin expression in laryngeal SCC and depth of tumour invasion (p-value=0.035), and stage (p-value=0.026).

CONCLUSION

The high expression of podoplanin in laryngeal SCC and its significant correlation with poor prognostic parameters recommends podoplanin as a prognostic marker in laryngeal SCC. In addition, increased podoplanin expression with higher grades of dysplasia, supports its role in malignant transformation and allows us to recommend its evaluation in premalignant lesions.