Expression of claudin-1 in laryngeal squamous
cell carcinomas (LSCCs) and its significance
Abderrahman Ouban
Department of Pathology, College of Medicine , Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Corresponding Author: Abderrahman Ouban, MD, MPH, DipRCPath, Associate Professor of Pathology, Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. e-mail: aouban@hotmail.com
Summary. Background. A large body of scientific evidence points to the important roles of tight junction proteins in tumor development, progression and dissemination. The larynx has only a few studies, analyzing the role of this group of junctional proteins in its oncogenesis. In this study, the author sheds some light on the expression and possible role of claudin-1 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas.
Materials and methods. This study analyzed the expression of claudin-1, using immunohistochemistry, in a tissue microarray of 80 cases of laryngeal squamous cell cancers. Clinicopathological parameters were analyzed according to claudin-1 expression in the tissue microarray. Furthermore, the expression of slug/snail1, an Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) linked protein, was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in the same microarray, and the expressions of the two proteins were assessed for correlation.
Results. A significant majority of laryngeal squamous cell cancers exhibited positive expression of claudin-1 proteins. The majority of those tumors expressed claudin-1 in their cytoplasm. The overall majority of those same tumors also exhibited a cytoplasmic shift of the slug-snail-1 protein from the nuclei to the cytoplasm. There was also evidence of correlation of the two proteins' expressions in the cytoplasm of laryngeal tumors.
Conclusion. The above may suggest a role for claudin-1 in the development and progression of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Overall, claudin-1's aberrant expression in laryngeal cancer is in line with evidence seen in other head and neck cancers. Its co-expression with slug/snail-1 in LSCC patients should be investigated further to understand the nature of the relationship of the two proteins in LSCC and their possible contribution to its development and progression. Histol Histopathol 36, 437-446 (2021)
Key words: LSCCs, Claudin-1, Tight junctions, EMT phenomenon, ERK pathway
DOI: 10.14670/HH-18-320
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©The Author(s) 2021. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY International License. |
