Recent findings on the impact of ErbB receptors status on prognosis and therapy of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer type, has often an aggressive course and is poorly responsive to current therapeutic approaches, so that 5-year survival rates for patients diagnosed with advanced disease is lower than 50%. The Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) has emerged as an established oncogene in HNSCC. Indeed, although HNSCCs are a heterogeneous group of cancers which differ for histological, molecular and clinical features, EGFR is overexpressed or mutated in a percentage of cases up to about 90%. Moreover, aberrant expression of the other members of the ErbB receptor family, ErbB2, ErbB3 and ErbB4, has also been reported in variable proportions of HNSCCs. Therefore, an increased expression/activity of one or multiple ErbB receptors is found in the vast majority of patients with HNSCC. While aberrant ErbB signaling has long been known to play a critical role in tumor growth, angiogenesis, invasion, metastatization and resistance to therapy, more recent evidence has revealed its impact on other features of cancer cells' biology, such as the ability to evade antitumor immunity. In this paper we will review recent findings on how ErbB receptors expression and activity, including that associated with non-canonical signaling mechanisms, impacts on prognosis and therapy of HNSCC

Characterization of Natural Killer Cell Profile in a Cohort of Infected Pregnant Women and Their Babies and Its Relation to CMV Transmission

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common herpesvirus causing lifelong latent infection in most people and is a primary cause of congenital infection worldwide. Given the role of NK cells in the materno-fetal barrier, we investigated peripheral blood NK cell behavior in the context of CMV infection acquired during pregnancy. We analyzed the NK phenotype and CD107a surface mobilization on PBMCs from CMV-transmitting and non-transmitting mothers and newborns with or without congenital infection. NK cells from non-transmitting mothers showed the typical phenotype of CMV-adaptive NK cells, characterized by higher levels of NKG2C, CD57, and KIRs, with reduced NKG2A, compared to transmitting ones. A significantly higher percentage of DNAM-1+, PD-1+, and KIR+NKG2A-CD57+PD-1+ CD56dim cells was found in the non-transmitting group. Accordingly, NK cells from congenital-CMV (cCMV)-infected newborns expressed higher levels of NKG2C and CD57, with reduced NKG2A, compared to non-congenital ones. Furthermore, they showed a significant expansion of CD56dim cells co-expressing NKG2C and CD57 or with a memory-like (KIR+NKG2A-CD57+NKG2C+) phenotype, as well as a significant reduction of the CD57-NKG2C- population. Degranulation assays showed a slightly higher CD107a geomean ratio in NK cells of mothers who were non-transmitting compared to those transmitting the virus. Our findings demonstrate that both CMV-transmitting mothers and cCMV newborns show a specific NK profile. These data can guide studies on predicting virus transmission from mothers and congenital infection in infants

DNA Vaccination Against Rat Her-2/Neu p185 More Effectively Inhibits Carcinogenesis Than Transplantable Carcinomas in Transgenic BALB/c Mice

The ability of vaccination with plasmids coding for the extracellular and the transmembrane domain of the product of transforming rat Her-2/neu oncogene (r-p185) to protect against r-p185(+) transplantable carcinoma (TUBO) cells and mammary carcinogenesis was evaluated. In normal BALB/c mice, DNA vaccination elicits anti-r-p185 Ab, but only a marginal CTL reactivity, and protects against a TUBO cell challenge. Massive reactive infiltration is associated with TUBO cell rejection, In BALB/c mice transgenic for the rat Her-2/neu gene (BALB-neuT), DNA vaccination elicits a lower anti-r-p185 Ab response, no CTL activity and only incompletely protects against TUBO cells, but markedly hampers the progression of carcinogenesis. At 33 wk of age, when control BALB-neuT mice display palpable tumors in all mammary glands, about 60% of immunized mice are tumor Gee, and tumor multiplicity is markedly reduced. Tumor-free mammary glands still display the atypical hyperplasia of the early stages of carcinogenesis, and a marked down-modulation of r-p185, along with a massive reactive infiltrate. However, BALB-neuT mice protected against mammary carcinogenesis fail to efficiently reject a TUBO cell challenge. This suggests that the mechanisms required for the rejection of transplantable tumors may not coincide with those that inhibit the slow progression of carcinogenesis