Prognostic value of glucose transporter 1 expression in patients with hypopharyngeal carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
The increase of glucose transport is a distinguishing marker of tumor cells. We hypothesized that a hypopharyngeal carcinoma, characterized by high frequency of lymph node spread or distant metastasis, was associated with glucose transporter 1 (Glut 1) overexpression.


METHODS
We investigated the incidence of Glut1 expression by immunostaining in 99 patients with hypopharyngeal carcinoma, and revealed the correlation with the clinical characteristics.


RESULTS
The analysis showed 46 patients (46%) of Glut1 overexpression (> 70% tumor cell stained). Glut1 expression did not correlate with gender, subsite, histological grade, tumor size, lymph node status or stage grouping. The 5-year relapse-free survival (RFS) rate of patients with Glut1 overexpression (> 70%) (35%) was significantly lower than that of patients with low Glut1 expression (< or = 70%) (57%) (p = 0.047). Multivariate analysis showed that advanced tumor stage (stages III and IV) and Glut1 overexpression were predictors of reduced RFS (p = 0.031 and 0.021, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Glut1 expression is an indicator for predicting the prognosis of hypopharyngeal carcinoma.
Mineta
Hiroyuki
H
Department of Otolaryngology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan. mineta@hama-med.ac.jp
Miura
Katsutoshi
K
Takebayashi
Satoru
S
Misawa
Kiyoshi
K
Araki
Keisuke
K
Misawa
Yuki
Y
Ueda
Yoh
Y
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1; D006801:Humans; D007012:Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; C495677:SLC2A1 protein, human