Division of Maxillofacial Diagnostic and Surgical Sciences, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kyushu University, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
Int J Oncol. 2012 Dec;41(6):1985-95. doi: 10.3892/ijo.2012.1673. Epub 2012 Oct 17.
The prognosis of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is influenced by the presence of lymph node metastasis. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process that involves events that convert adherent epithelial cells into individual migratory cells that can invade the extracellular matrix, is critical for cancer progression. Recently, the T-box transcription factor Brachyury was reported to promote EMT in human carcinoma cell lines. We analyzed the relationship between EMT (assessed by staining for E-cadherin and Vimentin) and the expression of Brachyury in association with lymph node metastasis in oral SCC. Oral SCC biopsy specimens (152 cases) were examined immunohistochemically for the expression of E-cadherin, Vimentin and Brachyury. Expression of Brachyury was correlated with EMT (p=0.035) and was significantly associated with lymph node and distant metastasis (p<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that Brachyury and EMT were predictive factors for lymph node metastasis (odds ratio 4.390 and 5.936, respectively) and that EMT was a predictive factor for distant metastases (odds ratio 11.786). Our findings present clinical evidence for an important role of Brachyury in EMT in oral SCC, and suggest that Brachyury and EMT patterns are useful prognostic markers.
口腔鳞状细胞癌（SCC）患者的预后受淋巴结转移的影响。上皮-间充质转化（EMT）是一个涉及将黏附上皮细胞转化为能够侵袭细胞外基质的单个迁移细胞的过程，对癌症的进展至关重要。最近，T 盒转录因子 Brachyury 被报道能促进人癌细胞系的 EMT。我们分析了 EMT（通过 E-钙黏蛋白和波形蛋白染色评估）与口腔 SCC 淋巴结转移相关的 Brachyury 表达之间的关系。对 152 例口腔 SCC 活检标本进行了免疫组织化学检测，以评估 E-钙黏蛋白、波形蛋白和 Brachyury 的表达。Brachyury 的表达与 EMT 相关（p=0.035），并且与淋巴结和远处转移显著相关（p<0.05）。逻辑回归分析显示，Brachyury 和 EMT 是淋巴结转移的预测因素（优势比分别为 4.390 和 5.936），而 EMT 是远处转移的预测因素（优势比为 11.786）。我们的研究结果为 Brachyury 在口腔 SCC 的 EMT 中具有重要作用提供了临床证据，并表明 Brachyury 和 EMT 模式是有用的预后标志物。
