title: Association between syndecan-1 expression and clinical outcome in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
abstract: Syndecans are a family of cell-surface heparan sulphate proteoglycans which are involved in cell-matrix interactions and growth factor binding. Syndecan-1 binds basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and several components of the extracellular matrix. Syndecan-1 expression is induced during keratinocyte differentiation and reduced during the formation of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). The purpose of this study was to examine the association of syndecan-1 expression with prognostic factors and clinical outcome in SCC of the head and neck. Frozen sections of 29 primary SCCs were analysed for syndecan-1 expression using immunohistochemical methods. Intermediate or strong staining for syndecan-1 was associated with a smaller primary tumour size (P = 0.0005) and higher histological grade of differentiation (P = 0.006) than negative or weakly positive staining. In a univariate analysis, syndecan-1-positive tumours were associated with higher overall (P = 0.001) and recurrence-free survival (P = 0.003) than those tumours with no or little syndecan-1 expression. The results suggest that syndecan-1 could be an important prognostic factor of SCC of the head and neck. Further studies on the prognostic significance of syndecan-1 expression in SCCs are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Turku Centre for Biotechnology, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Inki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Joensuu
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grénman
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Klemi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jalkanen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005629:Frozen Sections; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000032:analysis*; D053668:Syndecan-1; D053667:Syndecans
chemical_list: D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011509:Proteoglycans; C508241:SDC1 protein, human; D053668:Syndecan-1; D053667:Syndecans