Experience in Intra-arterial Chemotherapy using Two Protocols for the Treatment of OSCC over Two Decades at the University Hospital Vienna

Autophagy modulators for the treatment of oral and esophageal squamous cell carcinomas

Oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) and esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC) exhibit a survival rate of less than 60% and 40%, respectively. Late-stage diagnosis and lack of effective treatment strategies make both OSCC and ESCC a significant health burden. Autophagy, a lysosome-dependent catabolic process, involves the degradation of intracellular components to maintain cell homeostasis. Targeting autophagy has been highlighted as a feasible therapeutic strategy with clinical utility in cancer treatment, although its associated regulatory mechanisms remain elusive. The detection of relevant biomarkers in biological fluids has been anticipated to facilitate early diagnosis and/or prognosis for these tumors. In this context, recent studies have indicated the presence of specific proteins and small RNAs, detectable in circulating plasma and serum, as biomarkers. Interestingly, the interplay between biomarkers (eg, exosomal microRNAs) and autophagic processes could be exploited in the quest for targeted and more effective therapies for OSCC and ESCC. In this review, we give an overview of the available biomarkers and innovative targeted therapeutic strategies, including the application of autophagy modulators in OSCC and ESCC. Additionally, we provide a viewpoint on the state of the art and on future therapeutic perspectives combining the early detection of relevant biomarkers with drug discovery for the treatment of OSCC and ESCC.

DZIP1 Promotes Proliferation, Migration, and Invasion of Oral Squamous Carcinoma Through the GLI1/3 Pathway

BACKGROUND

DZIP1 is an oncogene involved in the progression and stemness of carcinoma through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, and the potential mechanism of DZIP1 in oral squamous cancer remains unknown. The aim of this study was to uncover the effect and mechanism of DZIP1 in the progression of oral squamous carcinoma.

METHODS

TCGA database scanning was applied to verify dysregulated genes in oral squamous carcinoma. quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, and Western blotting assays were used to detect the expression of DZIP1 in tissues and cell lines. We established stable DZIP1-overexpressing and DZIP1 knockdown cell lines. We investigated the biological function and the underlying mechanism of DZIP1 through a series of experiments.

RESULTS

DZIP1 was one of the genes discovered by the scanning strategy to be upregulated in cancer tissue and negatively correlated with the overall survival (OS) of patients. DZIP1 promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion in an oral squamous carcinoma cell line through EMT in a GLI1/3-dependent manner.

CONCLUSIONS

DZIP1 promotes the proliferation, migration, and invasion of oral squamous carcinoma through the GLI1/3 pathway.