van der Wal Jacqueline E, Sgaramella Nicola, Norberg Spaak Lena, Zborayova Katarina, Nylander Karin
Department of Pathology Antoni van Leeuwenhoek/National Cancer Institute Amsterdam The Netherlands.
Department of Medical Biosciences/Pathology Umeå University Umeå Sweden.
Clin Exp Dent Res. 2019 May 4;5(4):350-355. doi: 10.1002/cre2.189. eCollection 2019 Aug.
As tumour spread is a complicating event for malignant salivary gland tumours, we decided to study factors related to cell adhesion and lymph vessel formation in two of the three most common malignant salivary gland tumours, mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) and adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), to clarify the clinical relevance and potential usefulness of these factors. We also included a group of polymorphous adenocarcinoma (PAC) as this tumour, in common with ACC often shows perineural growth, but in contrast to ACC has an overall good prognosis.
Eighteen patients with ACC, 15 with MEC, and six with PAC were included. Protein expression of podoplanin and E-cadherin was evaluated as percentage of cells expressing the protein and intensity of expression. Ki-67 expression was included in the study as a marker of proliferative activity.
Looking at podoplanin, significantly more ACCs were high expressing compared with both MECs ( = .001) and PACs ( = .028). Also when looking at Ki-67 expression, significantly more ACCs were high expressing compared with MECs ( = .003). Significantly better survival was also seen for ACCs with high podoplanin ( = .022) and low E-cadherin expression ( = .021), respectively.
Our findings show that ACCs express significantly higher levels of podoplanin compared with both MECs and PACs and that high levels are correlated to better survival. Even though the group of PACs analysed was small, these tumours, despite their tendency to perineural spread, which they have in common with ACC, differ from ACCs concerning expression of factors with a known connection to tumour spread.
由于肿瘤扩散是恶性唾液腺肿瘤的一个复杂事件，我们决定研究三种最常见的恶性唾液腺肿瘤中的两种，即黏液表皮样癌（MEC）和腺样囊性癌（ACC）中与细胞黏附和淋巴管形成相关的因素，以阐明这些因素的临床相关性和潜在用途。我们还纳入了一组多形性腺癌（PAC），因为这种肿瘤与ACC一样，常表现为神经周围生长，但与ACC不同的是，其总体预后良好。
纳入18例ACC患者、15例MEC患者和6例PAC患者。评估血小板内皮细胞黏附分子-1（podoplanin）和E-钙黏蛋白的蛋白表达，以表达该蛋白的细胞百分比和表达强度来衡量。研究中纳入Ki-67表达作为增殖活性的标志物。
观察血小板内皮细胞黏附分子-1，与MEC（P = 0.001）和PAC（P = 0.028）相比，高表达的ACC明显更多。同样观察Ki-67表达时，与MEC相比，高表达的ACC也明显更多（P = 0.003）。血小板内皮细胞黏附分子-1高表达（P = 0.022）和E-钙黏蛋白低表达（P = 0.021）的ACC患者的生存率也明显更好。
我们的研究结果表明，与MEC和PAC相比，ACC中血小板内皮细胞黏附分子-1的表达水平明显更高，且高水平与更好的生存率相关。尽管分析的PAC组规模较小，但这些肿瘤尽管与ACC一样有神经周围扩散的倾向，但在与肿瘤扩散有已知关联的因素表达方面与ACC不同。
