Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany.
Research Unit Radiation Cytogenetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany.
Mol Oncol. 2021 Apr;15(4):1040-1053. doi: 10.1002/1878-0261.12886. Epub 2020 Dec 29.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) have poor clinical outcome owing to therapy resistance and frequent recurrences that are among others attributable to tumor cells in partial epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (pEMT). We compared side-by-side software-based and visual quantification of immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining of epithelial marker EpCAM and EMT regulator Slug in n = 102 primary HNSCC to assess optimal analysis protocols. IHC scores incorporated expression levels and percentages of positive cells. Digital and visual evaluation of membrane-associated EpCAM yielded correlating scorings, whereas visual evaluation of nuclear Slug resulted in significantly higher overall scores. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard analysis defined the median EpCAM expression levels resulting from visual quantification as an independent prognostic factor of overall survival. Slug expression levels resulting from digital quantification were an independent prognostic factor of recurrence-free survival, locoregional recurrence-free survival, and disease-specific survival. Hence, we propose to use visual assessment for the membrane-associated EpCAM protein, whereas nuclear protein Slug assessment was more accurate following digital measurement.
头颈部鳞状细胞癌（HNSCC）的临床预后较差，这归因于肿瘤细胞处于部分上皮-间充质转化（pEMT）状态导致的治疗耐药和频繁复发。我们比较了 n=102 例原发性 HNSCC 中基于软件的免疫组织化学（IHC）染色上皮标志物 EpCAM 和 EMT 调节剂 Slug 的并排软件和视觉定量，以评估最佳分析方案。IHC 评分纳入了阳性细胞的表达水平和百分比。膜相关 EpCAM 的数字和视觉评估产生了相关的评分，而核 Slug 的视觉评估则导致了整体评分显著升高。多变量 Cox 比例风险分析将视觉量化得出的 EpCAM 中位表达水平定义为总生存的独立预后因素。数字化定量得出的 Slug 表达水平是无复发生存、局部区域无复发生存和疾病特异性生存的独立预后因素。因此，我们建议使用视觉评估来评估膜相关的 EpCAM 蛋白，而核蛋白 Slug 的评估则需要数字化测量更准确。
