Expression of SPARC in tongue carcinoma of stage II is associated with poor prognosis: an immunohistochemical study of 86 cases.
SPARC (secretory protein acidic and rich in cysteine), also known as osteonectin or BM-40, associates with progression in various kinds of tumors. We have examined whether SPARC expression can be a prognostic marker for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HN-SCC). We examined immunolocalization of SPARC in 86 clinical specimens of tongue carcinoma. Although there was no correlation between SPARC positivity in the tumor cells and tumor stages, the 5-year overall survival rate was significantly lower in the SPARC positive cases (28.6%) than in the SPARC negative cases (91.7%), confined to stage II patients (p < 0.001, Wilcoxon test). Additionally, in stage II cases (n = 3), frequency of the postoperative metastasis was significantly higher in SPARC positive cases (5/8, 62.5%) than in the negative cases (1/15, 6.7%) (p < 0.01, chi2 test). Together with these results, SPARC can be a beneficial prognostic marker for the stage II tongue carcinoma, of which clinical outcomes are sometimes difficult to predict.
Kato
Yasumasa
Y
Department of Biology and Function in the Head and Neck, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama 236-0004, Japan.
Nagashima
Yoji
Y
Baba
Yuh
Y
Kawano
Toshiro
T
Furukawa
Madoka
M
Kubota
Akira
A
Yanoma
Shunsuke
S
Imagawa-Ishiguro
Yukari
Y
Satake
Kenichi
K
Taguchi
Takahide
T
Hata
Ryu-Ichiro
R
Mochimatsu
Izumi
I
Aoki
Ichiro
I
Kameda
Yoichi
Y
Inayama
Yoshiaki
Y
Tsukuda
Mamoru
M
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D015676:Osteonectin / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*
D015676:Osteonectin