TG levels were found to be a significant negative prognostic biomarker for OS in NSCLC patients treated with radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND:Adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) of the lung is a heterogeneous disease that is composed of both adenocarcinoma components (ACC) and squamous cell carcinoma components (SCCC). Their genomic profile, genetic origin, and clinical management remain controversial. PATIENTS AND METHODS:Resected ASC and metastatic tumor in regional lymph nodes (LNs) were collected. The ACC and SCCC were separated by microdissection of primary tumor. The 1021 cancer-related genes were evaluated by next-generation sequencing independently in ACC and SCCC and LNs. Shared and private alterations in the two components were investigated. In addition, genomic profiles of independent cohorts of adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas were examined for comparison. We have also carried out a retrospective study of ASCs with known EGFR mutation status from 11 hospitals in China for their clinical outcomes. RESULTS:The most frequent alterations in 28 surgically resected ASCs include EGFR (79%), TP53 (68%), MAP3K1 (14%) mutations, EGFR amplifications (32%), and MDM2 amplifications (18%). Twenty-seven patients (96%) had shared variations between ACC and SCCC, and pure SCCC metastases were not found in metastatic LNs among these patients. Only one patient with geographically separated ACC and SCCC had no shared mutations. Inter-component heterogeneity was a common genetic event of ACC and SCCC. The genomic profile of ASC was similar to that of 170 adenocarcinomas, but different from that of 62 squamous cell carcinomas. The incidence of EGFR mutations in the retrospective analysis of 517 ASCs was 51.8%. Among the 129 EGFR-positive patients who received EGFR-TKIs, the objective response rate was 56.6% and the median progression-free survival was 10.1 months (95% confidence interval: 9.0-11.2). CONCLUSIONS:The ACC and SCCC share a monoclonal origin, a majority with genetically inter-component heterogeneity. ASC may represent a subtype of adenocarcinoma with EGFR mutation being the most common genomic anomaly and sharing similar efficacy to EGFR TKI.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a common cause of cancer death. Despite decades of improvements in exploring new treatments and considerable advance in multimodality treatment, satisfactory curative rates have not yet been reached. The difficulty of early diagnosis and the high prevalence of metastasis associated with OSCC contribute to its dismal prognosis. In the last few decades the emerging data from both tumor biology and clinical trials led to growing interest in the research for predictive biomarkers. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are promising biomarkers. Among numerous kinds of ncRNAs, short ncRNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs), have been extensively investigated with regard to their biogenesis, function, and importance in carcinogenesis. In contrast to miRNAs, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are much less known concerning their functions in human cancers especially in OSCC. The present review highlighted the roles of miRNAs and newly discovered lncRNAs in oral tumorigenesis, metastasis, and their clinical implication.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common cancer of the head and neck and is associated with a high rate of lymph node metastasis. The initial step in the metastasis and transition of tumors is epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-induced angiogenesis, which can be mediated by angiopoietin 2 (ANG2), a key regulatory factor in angiogenesis. In the present study, immunohistochemistry and real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase (qRT-PCR) were used to measure the expression of ANG2 in OSCC tissues. Plasmids encoding ANG2 mRNA were used for increased ANG2 expression in the OSCC cell line TCA8113. The short interfering RNA (siRNA)-targeting ANG2 mRNA sequences were used to inhibit ANG2 expression in TCA8113 cells. Subsequently, transwell assays were performed to examine the effects of ANG2 on TCA8113 cell migration and invasion. Furthermore, in vivo assays were performed to assess the effect of ANG2 on tumor growth. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assays and immunohistochemistry were used to examine cell apoptosis and angiogenesis in tumor tissues, respectively. Finally, western blot analysis was performed to evaluate tumor formation-related proteins in OSCC tissues. We found that protein expression of ANG2 was remarkably upregulated in OSCC tissues. Overexpression of ANG2 increased the migration and invasion of TCA8113 cells by regulating EMT. Further investigations showed that overexpression of ANG2 increased tumor growth in nude mice, and angiogenesis of OSCC tissues increased in the presence of ANG2 overexpression. Overexpression of ANG2 also reduced cell apoptosis in tumor tissue cells. Finally, we found that overexpression of ANG2 resulted in changes in the expression of tumor formation-related proteins including vimentin, E-cadherin, Bim, PUMA, Bcl-2, Bax, Cyclin D1, PCNA and CD31. Our findings show that ANG2 has an important role in the migration and invasion of OSCC. More importantly, further investigations suggested that overexpression of ANG2 might increase OSCC metastasis by promoting angiogenesis in nude mice. This stimulatory effect could be achieved by inducing abnormal EMT and by reducing apoptosis and increasing proliferation of cells.

Aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) has been involved in the development and progression of malignancy. MicroRNA-9 (miR-9) has been confirmed to be underexpressed in many types of cancers. However, the relationship between miR-9 and the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remains largely unknown. Here we showed that the miR-9 was underexpressed in patients with OSCC and several OSCC cell lines. Lentivirus-mediated miR-9 overexpression in highly aggressive (Tca8113 and SCC-9) tumor cells significantly inhibited proliferation of the two cell lines in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we found that the CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) gene was a direct target of miR-9. RNA interference silencing of CXCR4 proved that miR-9 underexpression led to constitutive activation of β-catenin through activation of CXCR4 expression in OSCC cells. Finally, we also analyzed the possible relationship between miR-9 and the genes downstream of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in OSCC development and progression. These results provide new evidence of miR-9 as a promising tumor gene therapeutic target for OSCC patients.

OBJECTIVE:The present study was carried out to analyze the interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) values in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and identify the relationship between the IFP and tumor prognosis.METHODS:We investigated tumor lymphatic metastasis-related protein (VEGFC, VEGFD and VEGFR3) expressions change on SCC-4 and SCC-9 cells subjected to increased extracellular pressure in vitro and analyzed the relationship between these proteins and IFP, and prognosis of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma.RESULTS:The results showed that the elevated extracellular pressure significantly resulted in a dramatic increase of VEGFC, VEGFD and VEGFR3 protein expressions in OSCC. More important, the activation of VEGFC, VEGFD and VEGFR3 proteins through IFP elevation contributed to poor prognosis for patients with OSCC.CONCLUSIONS:These results suggest an important potential clinical application of measuring IFP, which can be used as a generic marker of prognosis evaluation and response to therapy. Furthermore, VEGFC, VEGFD and VEGFR3 may be useful targets in developing novel and specific therapeutic tool for OSCC patients with high IFP.