PI3-kinase pathway biomarkers in oral cancer and tumor immune cells

Mohammad Y. Ibrahim, Maria I. Nunez, Nusrat Harun, J. Jack Lee, Adel K. El-Naggar, Renata Ferrarotto, Ignacio Wistuba, Jeffrey Myers, Bonnie S. Glisson, William N. William

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: This study investigated the hypothesis that phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) pathway dysregulation in either head and neck cancer cells and/or tumor infiltrating immune cells would influence outcomes of patients with surgically treated oral tongue squamous cell carcinomas (SCC). Methods: We constructed tissue microarrays containing 123 oral tongue SCC samples and performed immunohistochemistry using antibodies against 7 PI3-kinase pathway markers: phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), Akt, p-Akt, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), phosphorylated-mammalian target of rapamycin (p-mTOR), survivin, and Ki-67). Expression levels in cancer cells or tumor infiltrating immune cells were correlated with outcomes. Results: Higher levels of PTEN expression in immune cells were significantly associated with improved recurrence-free survival (heart rate (HR) = 0.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.23-0.90, P =.03), and overall survival (HR = 0.34, 95% CI 0.15-0.76, P =.01) on univariate and multicovariate models. Conclusions: We identified a novel, negative prognostic role of PI3-kinase activation (as determined by PTEN loss) in oral SCC infiltrating immune cells. These findings could be relevant for clinical development of PI-3 kinase inhibitors for this disease.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)615-622
Number of pages8
JournalHead and Neck
Volume41
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2019

Keywords

  • immunology
  • oral squamous cell carcinomas
  • phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN)
  • phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathway (PI3-kinase pathway)
  • tumor infiltrating immune cells

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Otorhinolaryngology

MD Anderson CCSG core facilities

  • Biostatistics Resource Group
  • Tissue Biospecimen and Pathology Resource
  • Clinical Trials Office

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