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 language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 615-622 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Head and Neck |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 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