PI3-kinase pathway biomarkers in oral cancer and tumor immune cells

Overcoming Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas

Preclinical data suggest that head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) may evade immune surveillance and induce immunosuppression. One mechanism of immune evasion involves the expression of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) in tumor and immune cells, which is, to date, the only biomarker routinely used in clinical practice to select patients with advanced HNSCCs more likely to benefit from anti-PD-1 therapy. Nonetheless, PD-L1 expression alone incompletely captures the degree of sensitivity of HNSCCs to PD-1 inhibitors. Most patients exposed to anti-PD-1 antibodies do not respond to therapy, suggesting the existence of mechanisms of de novo resistance to immunotherapy. Furthermore, patients that initially respond to PD-1 inhibitors will eventually develop acquired resistance to immunotherapy through mechanisms that have not yet been completely elucidated. In this article, we will provide an overview of the immune landscape of HNSCCs. We will briefly describe the clinical activity of inhibitors of the PD-1/PD-L1 axis in this disease, as well as biomarkers of benefit from these agents that have been identified so far. We will review pre-clinical and clinical work in cancers in general, and in HNSCCs specifically, that have characterized the mechanisms of de novo and acquired resistance to immunotherapy. Lastly, we will provide insights into novel strategies under investigation to overcome resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Prognostic Role of the Activated p-AKT Molecule in Various Hematologic Malignancies and Solid Tumors: A Meta-Analysis

Cancer is one of the main causes of human death worldwide. Recently, many studies have firmly established the causal relationship between oxidative stress and cancer initiation and progression. As a key protein in PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, p-AKT (phosphorylated Akt) participates in the process of oxidative stress and plays a prognostic role in various hematologic tumors and solid tumors. We conducted a comprehensive search of the PubMed, Embase and Cochrane libraries to identify studies published in the past decade involving cancer patients expressing p-AKT that reported overall survival (OS) during follow-up. In this study, 6,128 patients in total were evaluated from 29 enrolled articles, and we concluded that overexpression of p-AKT was closely related to worse OS in cancer patients with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.33 (95% CI: 1.67–4.00). Furthermore, we conducted a subgroup analysis, and the results indicated that overexpression of p-AKT was associated with worse OS in hematological tumor (HR: 1.64, 95% CI: 1.41–1.92), and solid tumor (HR: 2.44, 95% CI: 1.61–5.26). High expression of p-AKT is related to poor prognosis of various hematologic tumors and solid tumors.

ΔNp63α promotes the expression and nuclear translocation of PTEN, leading to cisplatin resistance in oral cancer cells

Pan-histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors can induce the expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) protein. However, the underlying mechanism by which this occurs remains unclear. In this study, we show that pan-HDAC inhibitors, including trichostatin A, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, and sodium butyrate, were able to induce PTEN mRNA and protein expression via the acetylation of the transcription factor ΔNp63α by inhibiting HDAC1 and HDAC3. ΔNp63α enhanced PTEN promoter activity by binding two newly identified recognition sites on it. Unfortunately, the inhibition of HDAC1 or HDAC3 failed to activate PTEN, as knockdown of HDAC1 inhibited both membrane-bound and nuclear PTEN, and knockdown of HDAC3 only induced cytoplasmic PTEN. Furthermore, the overexpression of ΔNp63α downregulated membrane-bound PTEN but enhanced the nuclear translocation of PTEN, leading to the cisplatin resistance of oral cancer cells. PTEN accumulated in the nuclei of cancerous cells and normal cells when ΔNp63α was highly expressed in specimens from patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. However, inhibiting either HDAC1 or HDAC6 prevented the nuclear translocation of PTEN and attenuated cisplatin resistance. These results suggest that chemotherapeutic inhibitors of HDAC1 or HDAC6, together with cisplatin, might improve outcomes for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.