Glucose transporter-1 expression in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.
OBJECTIVE
Tumor cells are known to express hypoxia-related proteins such as glucose transporter-1 (Glut-1). These hypoxia-induced changes may allow tumor cells to survive under sustained hypoxic microenvironments, and the surviving tumor cell under hypoxia may develop a more aggressive phenotype and so result in a poor prognosis.


METHODS
The Glut-1 expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, and its association with the prognosis was assessed in 60 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.


RESULTS
The Glut-1 expression was diffuse with a membranous pattern, and the median percentage of Glut-1 positive tumor cells was 60% (range: 0.0 approximately 90.0%). A high Glut-1 expression (the percentage of positive tumor cells >or= the median value, 60%) was associated with the location of primary lesion, lymph node metastasis status and disease stage (p<0.05). The expression of Glut-1 was correlated with the Ki-67 expression (r=0.406, p=0.001). Microvessel density, as represented by CD31 staining, was also correlated with the Glut-1 expression although its significance is weak (r=0.267, p=0.039). On the univariate analysis, the group with a high Glut-1 expression showed poorer overall survival than the group with a low Glut-1 expression (p<0.05). However, the Glut-1 expression failed to show any independent prognostic significance on the multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
The expression of Glut-1 may be useful for predicting the prognosis and determining the treatment strategy for the management of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.
Choi
Yoon Seok
YS
Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Kim
Seok Jin
SJ
Kim
Dae Sik
DS
Park
Seh Jong
SJ
Park
Yong
Y
Shin
Hye Jin
HJ
Jung
Kwang-Yoon
KY
Baek
Seung-Kuk
SK
Shin
Bong Kyung
BK
Choi
Jung Woo
JW
Kim
Byung Soo
BS
Shin
Sang Won
SW
Kim
Yeul Hong
YH
Kim
Jun Suk
JS