Emerging therapeutic modality enhancing the efficiency of chemotherapeutic agents against head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines.

The current work aimed to evaluate bee venom (BV) cytotoxic effect and its synergistic action when combined with cisplatin (CIS) against four types of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines. 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-Yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay for cell viability, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for expression of BCL2 associated X (BAX), B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) genes and, flow cytometry for cell cycle analysis were performed. MTT assay revealed that BV caused an approximately 50% cell death for UMSCC12, UMSCC29, UMSCC38 and, UMSCC47 cell lines after 72 hr with 54.809 µg/ml, 61.287 µg/ml, 71.328 µg/ml and, 61.045 µg/ml, respectively. RT-PCR demonstrated a significant up-regulation of BAX gene and a significant down-regulation of BCL2 and EGFR genes among single or combined treatments with CIS and BV as compared to vehicle-treated. The cell lines treated with both BV and CIS showed marked elevation of BAX and a notable drop of BCL2 and EGFR expressions than single-treated groups. Cell cycle analysis via flow cytometry revealed significantly increased cells in the G2/M phase in single or combined-treated cell lines with CIS and BV when compared with vehicle-treated. Moreover, a significant decrease in cells in S phases among all single and combined treatments when matched with vehicle-treated. Briefly, the findings of the present study suggest that BV can exert an anti-cancer effect on HNSCC and may have the potentiality for potentiation of CIS cytotoxic effects and reduction of its adverse effects.

The oncofetal protein IMP3 is an indicator of early recurrence and poor outcome in mucoepidermoid carcinoma of salivary glands.

OBJECTIVE: Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is the most common primary malignancy of the salivary glands. Insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA-binding protein-3 (IMP3) is an important prognostic factor in some cancers and a tool that differentiates between benign and malignant pancreatic lesions. This study aimed to identify a relationship between the expression of IMP3 and the outcome of salivary gland MEC, as well as to differentiate MEC from pleomorphic adenoma (PA). METHODS: Tissue specimens from 70 cases of salivary gland MEC, 40 cases of PA, and 10 cases with normal salivary gland were examined immunohistochemically for IMP3. The association among the expression of IMP3, clinicopathological characteristics and patient's survival was assessed. RESULTS: IMP3 was present in 51.4% of MEC but absent in PA and normal salivary gland tissues. IMP3 expression was associated with age > 60 years, submandibular gland tumors, tumor size > 4 cm, high-grade tumors, lymph node metastasis, involvement of surgical margins, perineural invasion, distant metastasis, advanced TNM stage, tumor relapse, and death ( P<0.05). Increased expression of IMP3, tumors of the submandibular gland, and lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors of -free survival (DFS). In addition, IMP3 was a strong predictor of overall survival (OS) together with distant metastasis and intermediate and high-grade tumors. CONCLUSIONS: IMP3 expression is highly important in evaluating the outcome of MEC. IMP3 can be used to differentiate MEC from PA of salivary glands.