Stoiber S, Brkic FF, Maier T, Schnoell J, Gurnhofer E, Heiduschka G, Kadletz-Wanke L, Kenner L. β-CATENIN is a positive prognostic marker for HPV-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 2023;
149:7743-7750. [PMID:
37010585 PMCID:
PMC10374714 DOI:
10.1007/s00432-023-04712-3]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 03/18/2023] [Indexed: 04/04/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE
The evolutionary-conserved Wnt/β-CATENIN (WBC) pathway has been implicated in the pathogenesis of different solid malignant tumors. We evaluated the prognostic relevance of β-CATENIN, a pivotal mediator of WBC activation, in patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).
METHODS
We analyzed if patients with HPV-positive HNSCC from the "The Cancer Genome Atlas" (TCGA cohort, n = 41) can be stratified based on their CTNNB1 mRNA expression. Moreover, in a tissue microarray (TMA) of primary tumor sections from HPV-positive HNSCC patients treated in a tertiary academic center (in-house cohort, n = 31), we evaluated the prognostic relevance of β-CATENIN expression on protein level.
RESULTS
In silico mining of CTNNB1 expression in HPV-positive HNSCC revealed that high CTNNB1 expression was linked to better overall survival (OS, p = 0.062). Moreover, high β-CATENIN expression was significantly associated with a better OS in our in-house cohort (p = 0.035).
CONCLUSION
Based on these findings, we postulate that β-CATENIN expression could serve (potentially in conjunction with other WBC pathway members) as a marker for better survival outcomes in patients with HPV-positive HNSCC. However, it is evident that future studies on bigger cohorts are warranted.
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