title: The prognostic value of 14-3-3 isoforms in vulvar squamous cell carcinoma cases: 14-3-3β and ε are independent prognostic factors for these tumors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The 14-3-3 family is comprised of highly conserved proteins that are functionally important in the maintenance of homeostasis. Their involvement with the cell cycle, their association with proto-oncogenes and oncogenes, and their abnormal expression in various tumors has linked this family of proteins to the etiology of human cancer. Mounting evidence now indicates that 14-3-3σ is a cancer suppressor gene but the roles of the other 14-3-3 isoforms and their interactions in tumorigenesis have not yet been elucidated. In our current study, we examined the expression of 14-3-3β, γ, ε, ζ, η and τ in a large series of vulvar squamous cell carcinomas to evaluate any clinical significance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tumor biopsies from 298 vulvar carcinomas were examined by immunohistochemistry for the expression of 14-3-3β, γ, ε, ζ, η and τ. Statistical analyses were employed to validate any associations between the expression of any 14-3-3 isoform and clinicopathologic variables for this disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High cytoplasmic levels of 14-3-3β, γ, ζ, ε and η were observed in 79%, 58%, 50%, 86% and 54% of the vulvar carcinomas analyzed, respectively, whereas a low nuclear expression of 14-3-3τ was present in 80% of these cases. The elevated cytoplasmic expression of 14-3-3β, γ, ε, ζ and η was further found to be associated with advanced disease and aggressive features of these cancers. The overexpression of cytoplasmic 14-3-3β and ε significantly correlated with a poor disease-specific survival by univariate analysis (P = 0.007 and P = 0.04, respectively). The independent prognostic significance of these factors was confirmed by multivariate analysis (P = 0.007 and P = 0.009, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We reveal for the first time that the 14-3-3β, γ, ε, ζ, η and τ isoforms may be involved in the progression of vulvar carcinomas. Furthermore, our analyses show that high cytoplasmic levels of 14-3-3β and ε independently correlate with poor disease-specific survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Zhihui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jahn M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Nesland
authors.forename: Zhenhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Suo
authors.forename: Claes G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Trope
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holm
mesh_terms: D048948:14-3-3 Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000378:metabolism*; D014846:Vulvar Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D048948:14-3-3 Proteins; D020033:Protein Isoforms