[Desmocollin-1 significant correlated with the tumorigenesis and prognosis of HNSCC].

Objective:To explore the correlation between the expression of desmocollin1and the tumorigenesis and prognosis of HNSCC.Method:Five datasets of HNSCC from the GEO were analyzed. A tumor tissue microassay was chosen for further test. The expression of DSC1 of TMA was detected by immunohistochemical staining. Result:The expression of DSC1 was significantly increased in HNSCC. Meanwhile, the expression of DSC1 was much higher in poor-differentiated tumor than the welldifferentiated tumor in HNSCC. What's more, the HNSCC patients with lower expression of DSC1 had better outcomes. Conclusion:The results were according with the results of statistical analysis with the bioinformatics data from GEO, indicating that DSC1 significant correlated with the tumorigenesis and prognosis of HNSCC.

Telomerase inhibition alters telomere maintenance mechanisms in laryngeal squamous carcinoma cells.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Telomere length must be maintained throughout cancer cell progression and proliferation. In most tumours, telomerase activity maintains telomere length. Therefore, telomerase is a target for cancer treatments. However, some cancer cells maintain telomere length through an alternative mechanism termed 'alternative lengthening of telomeres'. To determine how telomerase inhibition relates to the initiation of the alternative lengthening of telomeres pathway, we investigated telomerase activity and telomere maintenance in Hep-2 cells with and without reduced telomerase activity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We investigated telomerase activity levels in a normal Hep-2 cell line and in residual cells following telomerase inhibition treatment. Additionally, we looked for expression of a marker protein for the alternative lengthening of telomeres mechanism. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: In the residual cells, telomerase activity was eliminated. However, these cells had higher levels of the alternative lengthening of telomeres biomarker, suggesting an alternative mechanism for telomere maintenance following telomerase inhibition. These results could have a major impact on the design of new cancer treatments.

[Telomerase activity in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and adjacent tissues].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the telomerase activity in human head and neck squamous cell carcinomas and their adjacent tissues and to explore its possibility of being tumor biological marker. METHOD: Thirty-two patient samples of primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and 15 adjacent tissues were assayed using TRA-PCR-ELISA for detection of telomerase activity. RESULT: Twenty-seven of 32 (84.4%) cancer samples and 5 of 15 (33.3%) adjacent samples were telomerase positive (P < 0.05, Chi-Square Test). The frequency of telomerase activation was lower in cancer without lymph node involvement (82.4%) than that with lymph node involvement(86.7%), but the difference has no statistical significance. Detection rate of telomerase activity in poor grading cancer (90%) is higher than that in moderate and high differentiation cancer (81.8%), although no statistical significance. No obvious correlation was found between the telomerase activity and the other clinical parameters such as primary site and staging. CONCLUSION: The finding of telomerase activity in 84.4% of primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma samples is consistent with the concept of telomerase playing a key role in tumorigenesis. Further study is needed to determine the usefulness of this enzyme as a new molecular marker.

[Expression of CD44s and CD44v6 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and their significance].

OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation between the expression of CD44s, CD44v6 and the clinicopathological characters of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) so as to analyze the role of them in occurrence and progression of LSCC. METHOD: Expression of CD44 and CD44v6 in 46 cases of LSCC and 20 cases of adjacent normal tissues was inspected with immunohistochemical SP method. RESULT: The expression of CD44s increased significantly in lymphnode metastasis group (94.4%) and stage III-IV group (96.2%), but decreased in non-lymphnode metastasis group (67.9%) and stage I-II group (55.0%). The expression of CD44v6 was lower (21.7%), which wasn't associated with any clinicopathological characters. CONCLUSION: The role of CD44 and CD44v6 in carcinoma maybe dependent on the species, type of carcinoma, and the expression of CD44s may be a biologic marker to evaluate metastasis of LSCC.