Impact of spatially heterogeneous trop‐2 expression on prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Erber R, Spoerl S, Mamilos A, Krupar R, Hartmann A, Rübner M, Taxis J, Wittenberg M, Reichert TE, Spanier G, Spörl S (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

International Journal of Molecular Sciences MDPI

Book Volume: 23

Article Number: 87

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.3390/ijms23010087

Abstract

Oral cancer often presents with aggressive behavior and a high risk of recurrence and metastasis. For oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), which is the most frequent histological subtype, therapy strategies include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and EGFR inhibitors. Recently, a Trop‐2 antibody‐drug conjugate (ADC) has been approved in the United States of America for the treatment of advanced triple‐negative breast cancer. However, this ADC has also been tested in other solid tumors including head & neck squamous cell carcinoma. The prognostic impact of Trop‐2 has already been reported for several cancers. We studied the prognostic influence of Trop‐2 protein expression on OSCC patients’ survival. The cohort comprised n = 229 OSCC patients with available archived tumor tissue and corresponding non‐neoplastic oral mucosa tissue. Using immunohistochemistry, we investigated Trop‐2 expression in both the central and peripheral regions of each tumor and in corresponding non‐neoplastic oral mucosa. In patients suffering from OSCC with combined high central and low peripheral Trop‐2 expression, five‐year overall survival (OS) was 41.2%, whereas 55.6% of OSCC patients who presented lower central and/or higher peripheral tumoral Trop‐2 expression were alive after five years (p = 0.075). In multivariate Cox regression, the expression pattern of high central tumoral and lower peripheral Trop‐2 expression was significantly correlated with impaired OS (HR = 1.802, 95%‐CI: 1.134–2.864; p = 0.013) and recurrence‐free survival (RFS) (HR = 1.633, 95%‐CI: 1.042–2.560; p = 0.033), respectively, when adjusting for co‐variables. Hence, Trop‐2 may serve as an independent prognostic biomarker in OSCC. In subsequent studies, the pathophysiological meaning of downregulated Trop‐2 expression in the OSCC periphery has to be analyzed.

Authors with CRIS profile

Ramona Erber Institute of Pathology Arndt Hartmann Lehrstuhl für Allgemeine Pathologie und Pathologische Anatomie Matthias Rübner Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Silvia Spörl Department of Medicine 5 – Haematology and Oncology

Involved external institutions

Universitätsklinikum Regensburg DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Erber, R., Spoerl, S., Mamilos, A., Krupar, R., Hartmann, A., Rübner, M.,... Spörl, S. (2022). Impact of spatially heterogeneous trop‐2 expression on prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms23010087

MLA:

Erber, Ramona, et al. "Impact of spatially heterogeneous trop‐2 expression on prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23.1 (2022).

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