[Transferrin receptors in squamous epithelial cancers of the head and neck].
Transferrin ist the transport protein of iron known to be an essential element of life. Iron transport crossing the cell membrane is mediated by the specific transferrin receptor (TR). However, the receptor was observed especially in proliferating tissues. We examined immunohistochemically the distribution pattern of this receptor in 60 squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. The results were correlated with their proliferative activities determined by the monoclonal antibody Ki67. All investigated tumors expressed the TR mostly distributed homogeneously with slight intra- and intertumorous differences. Generally with increasing expression of TR we could observe a decrease of the histopathological grading of the tumors investigated in our series. However, this relation could not be verified in all our cases. Therefore, only a semiquantitative analysis seemed to be reasonable. Our results indicate that the expression of TRs is not strongly associated to proliferative activity and cannot be used for measurements of growth fractions in squamous cell carcinomas.
Lörz
M
M
Zentrum der Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde Universitätskliniken Frankfurt/Main.
Meyer-Breiting
E
E
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D004848:Epithelium / Q000473:pathology; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D011990:Receptors, Transferrin / Q000032:analysis*
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011990:Receptors, Transferrin