The Detroit 562 Pharyngeal Immortalized Cell Line Model for the Assessment of Infectivity of Pathogenic Neisseria sp

Gb3/cd77 Is a Predictive Marker and Promising Therapeutic Target for Head and Neck Cancer

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the sixth leading cancer in the world. This cancer is difficult to treat and is characterized by recurrences that are often fatal. This cancer is generally removed surgically, but it often regrows from the edges of the lesion from where most recurrences reappear. In this study, we have investigated if the expression of GB3 in human cell lines, tissues from patient biopsies, and a murine animal model could be used as an early and determinant marker of HNC. We found that in all the investigated systems, this marker appears in neoplastic cells from the very early stages of their malignant transformation. Our conclusions support the hypothesis that GB3 is a reliable and independent target for HNC identification and selective delivery of treatments. Furthermore, we show that the level of expression of this marker correlates with the degree of malignancy of the tumor. These studies suggest that GB3 may provide the basis for the early identification and new targeted therapies for head and neck cancer.

Targeting Nanomaterials to Head and Neck Cancer Cells Using a Fragment of the Shiga Toxin as a Potent Natural Ligand

Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) is the seventh most common cancer worldwide with a 5-year survival from diagnosis of 50%. Currently, HNC is diagnosed by a physical examination followed by an histological biopsy, with surgery being the primary treatment. Here, we propose the use of targeted nanotechnology in support of existing diagnostic and therapeutic tools to prevent recurrences of tumors with poorly defined or surgically inaccessible margins. We have designed an innocuous ligand-protein, based on the receptor-binding domain of the Shiga toxin (ShTxB), that specifically drives nanoparticles to HNC cells bearing the globotriaosylceramide receptor on their surfaces. Microscopy images show how, upon binding to the receptor, the ShTxB-coated nanoparticles cause the clustering of the globotriaosylceramide receptors, the protrusion of filopodia, and rippling of the membrane, ultimately allowing the penetration of the ShTxB nanoparticles directly into the cell cytoplasm, thus triggering a biomimetic cellular response indistinguishable from that triggered by the full-length Shiga toxin. This functionalization strategy is a clear example of how some toxin fragments can be used as natural biosensors for the detection of some localized cancers and to target nanomedicines to HNC lesions.