title: Comparison of quantum dot technology with conventional immunohistochemistry in examining aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1 as a potential biomarker for lymph node metastasis of head and neck cancer.
abstract: This study explored whether the expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1A1) in the primary tumour correlated with lymph node metastasis (LNM) of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC). We used both quantum dot (QD)-based immunohistofluorescence (IHF) and conventional immunohistochemistry (IHC) to quantify ALDH1A1 expression in primary tumour samples taken from 96 HNSCC patients, 50 with disease in the lymph nodes and 46 without. The correlation between the quantified level of ALDH1A1 expression and LNM in HNSCC patients was evaluated with univariate and multivariate analysis. The prognostic value of ALDH1A1 was examined by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Wald test. ALDH1A1 was highly correlated with LNM in HNSCC patients (p<0.0001 by QD-based IHF and 0.039 by IHC). The two methods (QD-based IHF and conventional IHC) for quantification of ALDH1A1 were found to be comparable (R=0.75, p<0.0001), but QD-IHF was more sensitive and objective than IHC. The HNSCC patients with low ALDH1A1 expression had a higher 5-year survival rate than those with high ALDH1A1 level (p=0.025). Our study suggests that ALDH1A1 is a potential biomarker for predicting LNM in HNSCC patients, though it is not an independent prognostic factor for survival of HNSCC patients. Furthermore, QD-IHF has advantages over IHC in quantification of ALDH1A1 expression in HNSCC tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Sreenivas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nannapaneni
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Yuxiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xianghong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Dongsheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Mourad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tighiouart
authors.forename: Zhengjia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Nabil F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Saba
authors.forename: Jonathan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Beitler
authors.forename: Dong M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Zhuo Georgia
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000080924:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Family; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000032:analysis*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D045663:Quantum Dots; D050697:Retinal Dehydrogenase / Q000032:analysis*; D000077195:Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D007527:Isoenzymes; D000080924:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Family; C510223:ALDH1A1 protein, human; D050697:Retinal Dehydrogenase