Urokinase-type Plasminogen Activator Receptor (uPAR), Tissue Factor (TF) and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR): Tumor Expression Patterns and Prognostic Value in Oral Cancer

Overview

Journal BMC Cancer

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Oncology

Date 2017 Aug 27

PMID 28841839

Citations 22

Authors

Anders Christensen

Katalin Kiss

Giedrius Lelkaitis

Karina Juhl

Morten Persson

Birgitte Wittenborg Charabi

Jann Mortensen

Julie Lyng Forman

Anne Lyngholm Sorensen

David Hebbelstrup Jensen

Andreas Kjaer

Christian von Buchwald

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Tumor-specific biomarkers are a prerequisite for the development of targeted imaging and therapy in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). urokinase-type Plasminogen Activator Receptor (uPAR), Tissue Factor (TF) and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) are three biomarkers that exhibit enhanced expression in many types of cancers, and have been investigated as potential biomarkers for targeted strategies and prognostication. The aim of the study was to investigate the expression patterns of uPAR, TF and EGFR and their potential prognostic value in OSCC.

Methods: Immunohistochemical expression of uPAR, TF and EGFR in tumor resection specimens from 191 patients with primary OSCC was analyzed. Overall (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) was calculated. Associations between biomarker expression, clinicopathological factors and patient survival was analyzed using the Cox proportional hazards model for univariate and multivariate analysis, log rank and Kaplan-Meier statistics.

Results: uPAR and TF exhibited a highly tumor-specific expression pattern while EGFR also showed expression in normal tissues outside the tumor compartment. The overall positive expression rate of uPAR, TF and EGFR was 95%, 58% and 98%, respectively. High uPAR expression across the entire cohort was negatively associated with OS (p = 0.031, HR = 1.595 (95%CI 1.044-2.439)) in univariate analysis. The 5-year OS for high and low uPAR expression was 39% and 56%, respectively. The expression of TF and EGFR was not associated with survival outcome.

Conclusions: This study may suggest that uPAR and TF could potentially be attractive targets for molecular imaging and therapy in OSCC due to high positive expression rates and tumor-specific expression patterns. High uPAR expression was significantly associated with a reduced survival. uPAR seems to be a prognostic biomarker in oral cancer.

Citing Articles

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Prognostic and Clinicopathological Significance of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) Expression in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

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