The role of tumour FoxP3 as prognostic marker in different subtypes of head and neck cancer

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejca.2014.02.016
• Publication Date: 2014-03-12T21:01:38Z
• Authors: Patrick Weller; Agnes Bankfalvi; Xiang Gu; Nina Dominas; Götz F. Lehnerdt; Reinhard Zeidler; Stephan Lang; Sven Brandau; Claudia A. Dumitru
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Medizin; Membrane Proteins; Forkhead Transcription Factors; Prognosis; Immunohistochemistry; Survival Analysis; Neoplasm Proteins; 3. Good health; Oropharyngeal Neoplasms; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Cyclooxygenase 2; Multivariate Analysis; Biomarkers, Tumor; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell; Humans; Female; Cortactin; Laryngeal Neoplasms

Expression of the forkhead transcription factor (FoxP3)--an established marker of regulatory T cells--has been found in other cell types as well, including tumour cells. Recent studies indicated that high tumour FoxP3 expression might be associated with a poor outcome of patients with several types of solid cancers. Here, we investigated the role of FoxP3 expressed by the tumour cells in the prognosis of larynx and oro-hypopharynx squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC and OHSCC)--two major subtypes of head and neck cancer. To this end, we analysed by immunohistochemistry the expression of tumour FoxP3 in tissues from 83 LSCC and 89 OHSCC patients in relation to overall survival. In multivariate analysis we found that high tumour FoxP3 expression significantly associated with poor survival in OHSCC but not in LSCC patients. In further studies, we combined the prognostic value of FoxP3 with selected markers of inflammation (cyclooxygenase-2; COX2) or with markers of enhanced tumour migration/invasion (AHNAK and CORTACTIN). Interestingly, we found that the combination of FoxP3 and AHNAK (in LSCC) or FoxP3 and CORTACTIN (in OHSCC) had significantly stronger prognostic values than either marker analysed individually. Combination of FoxP3 and COX2 enhanced the prognostic accuracy only in OHSCC. Thus, our study identifies novel individual and combination markers that might have enhanced and distinct prognostic relevance in different subtypes of head and neck cancer.