title: Expression of c-kit and Slug correlates with invasion and metastasis of salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma.
abstract: The overexpression of c-kit seems to be frequent and specific in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), however, there is little information on correlation between c-kit expression and the invasion and metastasis. Recently, the data showed that Slug, a transcription factor of epithelial-mesenchymal transitions (EMT), is a molecular target that contributes to the biological specificity of c-kit signaling pathway. In this study, the expression of c-kit and Slug was evaluated in two ACC cell lines and 121 patients with ACC. The results of real-time RT-PCR and Western blot showed that ACC-2 and ACC-M cell lines expressed c-kit and Slug mRNA and protein. The immunohistochemical assay in patients demonstrated that positive expression of c-kit and Slug was observed in 108/121 (89.26%) and 87/121 (71.90%) of cases, respectively, and that c-kit and Slug expression was significantly associated with tumor site, TNM stage, histological pattern, perineural invasion, local regional recurrence and distant metastasis of patients with ACC (P<0.05). Furthermore, there was a significant association between the positive expression of c-kit and that of Slug (P=0.046). These findings indicated that c-kit/Slug pathway might participate in the invasion and metastasis of salivary ACC.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, Sichuan University, No. 14, Sec. 3, Renminnan Road, Chengdu Sichuan 610041, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yaling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Xinhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Zhiyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Guiquan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D000328:Adult; D003528:Carcinoma, Adenoid Cystic / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012468:Salivary Gland Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015398:Signal Transduction; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C000604407:SNAI1 protein, human; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit