Universidad de Murcia, Departamento de Biologia Celular e Histiologia
Abstract
Background. Laryngeal squamous cell
carcinomas (LSCCs) are tumours with a high incidence
of treatment failure and recurrence. Recent strategies to
improve the five-year survival rate and to decrease the
rates of recurrence and metastases did not improve
outcomes significantly. Research efforts in recent years
have started focusing on discovering biomarkers of
prognosis and management in LSCCs. Filamin-A
reportedly has been associated with metastatic disease in
a recent study. Analysis of this protein’s expression in
LSCCs is lacking in the literature.
Materials and Methods. This study analysed the
expression of filamin-A, using immunohistochemistry,
in a tissue microarray of 80 cases of laryngeal squamous
cell cancers. Clinical-pathological parameters were
analysed according to filamin-A expression in the tissue
microarray. Furthermore, a review of possible
mechanisms of this protein in cancer, in general, was
presented, along with a review of the protein’s
expression in other head and neck tumours.
Results. A significant majority of laryngeal
squamous cell cancers exhibited positive expression of
filamin-A protein. All the filamin-A positive tumours
expressed it in their cytoplasm. Significant correlation
between filamin-A expression and grade, stage, lymph
node status and metastases were found.
Conclusion. The above may suggest an important
role for filamin-A in LSCCs. Overall, filamin-A
expression in laryngeal cancer is in line with evidence
seen in other head and neck cancers. Further studies are
in order to pinpoint the exact role of this protein in
LSCCs, and its possible utilization in the management of
these difficult-to-treat tumours